Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art is the art museum of the University of Notre Dame, located on its campus near South Bend in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Established in 2023, the institution serves as a prominent resource for both the university community and the wider public, bridging the campus and the city. It holds the university's art collection of more than 30,000 works that span cultures, eras, and media, encompassing fine art, decorative arts, prints, drawings, textiles, photographs, and significant artifacts from Mesoamerican, Spanish Colonial, Latin American, Mexican, Chicano, and African cultures. The museum occupies a 70,000-square-foot building that opened on December 1, 2023, and integrates the surrounding Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park.

The origins of the university's art collection date to 1875 with the establishment of the Bishops Gallery, featuring 60 portraits by Vatican artist Luigi Gregori, and the Museum of Indian Antiquities in the Main Building. The collection grew through donations and a major 1917 acquisition by university president Rev. John J. Cavanaugh of 136 paintings from the Braschi family of Rome. That year, the art collection moved to the second floor of the newly completed Bond Hall library. In 1924, a donation of 108 religious paintings by Charles A. Wightman prompted the renaming of the space as the Wightman Memorial Art Gallery. The collection relocated again in 1953 to the O'Shaughnessy Art Gallery within O'Shaughnessy Hall, funded by Ignatius A. O'Shaughnessy. During the 1950s, the campus also featured the studio of sculptor Ivan Meštrović. In 1975, the Fred B. Snite family funded the Snite Museum of Art, a 70,000-square-foot building designed by Ambrose Richardson that opened in 1980, bridging the O'Shaughnessy Galleries and the Meštrović Studio. The Snite Museum closed at the end of 2023 when the collection transitioned to the newly constructed Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.

The museum's holdings encompass a broad range of global art, including photographs, old master paintings, drawings, prints, French 18th and 19th century paintings, decorative arts, textiles, African art, Olmec and Mesoamerican art, Native American art, and international modern and contemporary art. The depth of the collection is supported by several major donated and gifted collections. These include the Jack and Alfrieda Feddersen Collection of Rembrandt Etchings, the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of 19th Century French Art, the John D. Reilly Collection of Old Master and 19th Century Drawings, and the Janos Scholz Collection of 19th Century European Photographs. Additional specialized holdings include the Mr. and Mrs. Russell G. Ashbaugh Jr. Collection of Meštrović Sculpture and Drawings, the George Rickey Sculpture Archive, and the Virginia A. Martin Collection of 18th Century Decorative Arts.

Approximately 1,000 works from the permanent collection are displayed at any given time across 23 historically themed galleries. The museum also features prominent commissioned works by globally renowned artists integrated into its architecture and grounds. Outside the entrance stands a 36 foot stainless steel statue titled Endless by Jaume Plensa. Further commissions within the museum include works by Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, Maya Lin, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Zhang Huan, Julie Mehretu, Jamie Okuma, Yinka Shonibare, and Ursula von Rydingsvard. The second floor chapel provides a curatorial space for important works from the museum's collection of religious art alongside a permanent installation by a prominent artist.

Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the Beaux Arts inspired museum occupies a prominent intersection on the south edge of campus where the university meets the city of South Bend. Construction of the first phase began in April 2020, funded by a 2018 donation from lead benefactors Ernestine Raclin and her daughter and son in law Carmen and Chris Murphy. The building features a tall arched portico entry across from Irish Green, leading to a light flooded central atrium that rises to a central skylight, with two grand stairs connecting gallery levels. The main floor includes a café opening to an outdoor terrace, a teaching gallery, and an object study center for researchers. The third floor is dedicated to educational programs for schoolchildren. The museum is situated within the nine acre Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park, adapted by its original landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh. A planned second phase will add galleries, a works on paper study center, an auditorium, and additional administrative and storage space.

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art is located on the University of Notre Dame campus in Notre Dame, Indiana. It anchors a new arts district for the university, situated alongside Walsh Family Hall and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, with future buildings planned for the Departments of Art, Art History, and Design. The museum building includes visitor amenities such as a bookstore, a gift shop, and Ivan's Café, named after the sculptor Ivan Meštrović. It also houses the Our Lady, Queen of Families chapel, serving as a quiet place for meditation and small gatherings. The institution operates as a gateway between the campus and the city, offering directed educational experiences for university students and researchers as well as schoolchildren.