The Yale University Art Gallery, founded in 1832, and with more than 100,000 pieces in its permanent collection, is the oldest university art museum in the country. The gallery offers an excellent overview of art history, ranging from ancient to modern. There is an exquisite collection of American paintings, and an extensive display of 20th-century European paintings. Classic objects from ancient Egypt and the Middle East, and treasures from the South Pacific and Far East are also on display. Guided tours, lectures, and family programs are all available. Admission is free.

This museum boasts of the most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom, which includes paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings and rare books that chronicle British life from the Elizabethan period to the present. Fifteen hundred paintings showcase the likes of great landscape painters John Constable and JMW Turner. The museum also hosts concerts, lectures, family education days and symposia. The gift shop offers a wide range of collectibles, art reproductions and literature for both children and adults.

The serious and the curious venture into this gallery, where work by some of the more talented artists in the region is showcased on a semi-permanent or revolving basis. The work displayed is in a wide range of media, and artists also give frequent lectures and gallery talks. The gallery also sponsors one of the largest art festivals in the country, the New Haven's City-Wide Open Studios.