Founded in 1917 on the campus of Oberlin College, the Allen Memorial Art Museum is recognized as one of the best academic art museums in the nation. Museum admission has always been free for everyone.

For more than a century, the Allen has promoted the study of original works of art. Always free to the public, the museum has strong holdings in American, Asian, European, and global contemporary art, with smaller but impressive collections of African, ancient, Indigenous American, and Islamic art. The Allen’s collection of more than 15,000 works is recognized among the top academic art museums in the nation.

The 1917 building designed by Cass Gilbert, an architect known for the Woolworth Building in New York City and the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., engages the vocabulary of Tuscan Renaissance architecture to evoke inspirational art of the past. A 1977 addition by Robert Venturi became one of the finest and earliest examples of postmodern architecture in the United States.