Location: Northampton
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Top 9 Museums in Northampton, Massachusetts (MA)
Artists, farmers, scholars and professionals come together in harmony in beautiful Northampton, where the Connecticut River winds through the wooded hills of the Pioneer Valley. Once home to such diverse notables as U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, author Kurt Vonnegut and punk rockers Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, and current home of the all women's Smith College, the city is famed for its arts scene and liberal values, plus a thriving lesbian community.
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1. Brown Fine Arts Center
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1 reviews
College museum that displays major 19th- and 20th-century works.
2. R. Michelson Galleries
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 39 reviews
Reviewed By Cosmopolitan383995
The Michelson Galleries are full of surprises for both what is on display at length there and for their special exhibits. Many major artists choose to show their work at Michelsons, whose owner, Richard Michelson, is also a poet, a playwright, a children's book writer and so much more .... and a significant national prizewinner!
3. A2Z Science and Learning Store
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 9 reviews
No trip to Northampton is complete without a visit to A2Z Science & Learning Store. Experience an extraordinary inventory of educationally based, high quality toys and games for children of all ages, and for the kid in every adult. An added bonus: free modern yo-yo lessons offered three days a week!
4. Smith College Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 162 reviews
This museum features work by a number of art greats.
Reviewed By kzsull01 - Windsor, United States
My husband and I visited the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Massachusetts, on Sunday, December 30, 2018. It was definitely worth visiting. The museum had four floors of a very nice mixture of various types of high quality art organized by time period and type of art, all well laid out and well curated. Both the overviews describing the art on display in each gallery and the detailed descriptions of each individual item on display were nicely done, quite informative, and comprehensive, representing a good lesson in art and history. We enjoyed our visit finding both the permanent and special exhibits to be interesting and educational. We recommend the museum and we hope you have the opportunity to enjoy it as well. We spent about an hour and a half at the museum, based on the amount of time available to us, but we could easily have spent at least two hours there. We parked on the street in front of the museum, on the opposite side of the street from the museum. The metered parking on Sunday was free with respect to where we parked. Special Exhibits: We started our visit with the special exhibit on display on the first floor titled ‘Becoming a Woman in the Age of Enlightenment: French Art from the Horvitz Collection’. This exhibit was quite exquisite and comprehensive, illustrating the distinct stages of women’s lives during the eighteenth-century and the defined roles that they played during each stage, based on cultural, social and political norms with a scientific perspective. It was broken down into multiple unique sections that very nicely addressed the fundamental questions about a woman’s life in the eighteenth-century’s ‘Age of Reason’. Beautiful artwork from this period provided examples of a woman’s role in each stage and how it varied based on her status and class. This exhibit entailed a lot, was nicely done, and quite impressive, definitely worth seeing. It told a very nice story through the artwork on display and detailed write-ups describing the artwork, providing a good lesson in history. . The works on Paper Gallery, a separate gallery on the second floor, exhibited a special exhibit entitled ‘No Man’s Land: Prints from the Front Lines of WWI’. This included very historical etchings and prints of WWI which illustrated how artist’s perceptions of the war and their role changed from the start of the war to the end of the war based on their wartime experiences and the hardships that they faced during the war. The changes included documenting battles as they happened on the ground where the artists experienced the true devastation of war, rather than after the fact, as was done in the past. This exhibit was quite interesting and a good tribute to those who served in this war. The special exhibit on the third floor entitled ‘Object Histories: From the African Continent to the SCMA Galleries’ traced the unique histories of over twenty of the museum’s most important works of African Art. It interestingly illustrated a variety of different types of objects, including those that served as status symbols, personal objects and objects related to performance. The cultural histories and meanings of the objects were examined along with the role of their collectors and donors. This exhibit was quite unique. Permanent Exhibits: The permanent exhibits on both the second and third floors were quite impressive and very educational. We really enjoyed them. Below are more details about these exhibits. The second floor permanent exhibit displayed art created before 1800 from America, the Ancient World and Europe. The major theme was ‘Sacred and Secular’ artwork. The artwork included beautiful ceramics, dishes, plates, bowls, figurines, jewelry, coins, sculptures, and paintings. Topics on beauty in Ancient Greece, the new Egyptian kingdom, gardens in Ancient Rome, ceramics and stone working in the Ancient Mediterranean; materials and techniques of Medieval Art; and private and public devotion in Western Europe were illustrated through artwork and nice informative write-ups. Art reflecting teachings and traditions of the Christian Church from 1150 – 1650, paintings during the Dutch Golden Age showing a strong realist approach to art, 18th Century Anglo-American Portraits, and transatlantic influences were also illustrated. The third floor permanent exhibit had new and innovative forms of artwork created after 1800 from Africa, America, and Europe in three galleries with the theme of ‘Tradition and Transformation”. Multiple topics were very nicely illustrated and explained through write-ups and specific artwork. This included ‘French and American Landscape Traditions: The Barbizon School and Hudson River School’; ‘American Art from 1800 -1850, Being a Self-Taught Tradition’, expressing an American identity; ‘The Two Traditions of Neoclassical and Romanticism in French Art’; and ‘Impressionism in France and in the United States’. Details on the French Artist Edgar Degas were nicely displayed in ‘Degas: From Tradition to Innovation – the Evolution of an Artist’ exhibit. Pablo Picasso’s fractured image of reality and ruptures in representations through multiple viewpoints were also nicely depicted. In addition, the Arts and Crafts Movement, American Realism (1875 – 1915) and Modernism (from 1929) Movements were also addressed. This museum definitely has much to offer, much more than what I mention here and is worth visiting.
5. Historic Northampton
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 115 reviews
Historic Northampton focuses on local history and the local community. The museum features exhibits, concerts, guided tours, and programs for all ages, We preserve objects and documents that illuminate the lives of past residents while creating structures through which contemporary residents can preserve and celebrate their own histories in ways that honor both tradition and change. Through our programs, exhibits and public projects, Historic Northampton encourages ongoing conversations between past and present. Because civic identity grows out of the way we interpret and articulate our community's past, Historic Northampton is a critical institution in the city. While legally organized as a private non-profit corporation, we are deeply rooted in the community, charged with safeguarding,
6. Don Muller Gallery
7. Happy Valley Gifts
8. Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 42 reviews
The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum was established in 1920, when Massachusetts Governor and Vice-President Elect Calvin Coolidge began giving documents and memorabilia to Forbes Library, the public library for the city of Northampton, Massachusetts. During his Presidency and upon leaving the White House, additional materials were added including the Howard Chandler Christy portraits of Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace, and the infamous electric exercise horse. In 1956, acting upon the request of Grace Coolidge and Trustees of Forbes Library, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted funds to establish a “Calvin Coolidge Memorial Room” as a separate entity within the Forbes Library. Today, the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum at Forbes Library is the largest existing source of primary material on Calvin Coolidge and the only public library in the United States to hold a presidential collection.
Reviewed By railtrail - Northampton, United States
Calvin Coolidge's professional career was in Northampton and it is just perfect and fitting that modest Cal has his library inside a municipal library. Forbes library in downtown Northampton has a 2nd floor room[s] filled w treasures from his career. You have to go and see this.
9. William Baczek Fine Arts
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3 reviews
