Permanent Collection

Focus of the permanent collection:

The purpose of the permanent collection is to preserve and make accessible an artistic legacy of the 20th and 21st centuries. The goal is to provide a foundation of key styles that represent the ever-changing face of art for our students, visitors and scholars, in part as a context for approaching new forms we can only begin to imagine today.

Permanent Collection Searchable Database

Please click on the blue link above to access the searchable database of our permanent collection.

Recent significant gifts include:

• 206 original prints by the contemporary American artist, Jim Dine – from the artist
• 174 prints and photographs by Andy Warhol – from the Andy Warhol Foundation
• 50 drawings and paintings by former WSU faculty member Robert Helm – from Robert Sarkis
• 39 paintings and sculptures by contemporary Northwest artists – from the Safeco corporation
• 29 works of contemporary Northwest glass – from various private donors

Sub-collections include:

Holland and Orton Collections of early 20^th Century American Painting
Elwood Collection of Contemporary Prints
British Prints
Marian Smith Collection of Glass
Collection of African Art
Dine Collection of Prints
Andy Warhol Collection of Photographs and Prints
Washington Art Consortium Collection of 20^th Century Drawings
Washington Art Consortium Collection of Photography from the 1970s
Safeco Collection of Northwest Art

The future focus of the museum’s programs and collections will continue to primarily utilize donations and resources from the Northwest – artists, institutions and collectors – with a concentration on the art of the modern world as a reflection of our lives and times.