Housed in what was the home of the late Marion Koogler McNay, the McNay Art Museum focuses primarily on 19th- and 20th- century European and American art. Artists featured include Cézanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse, O’Keeffe, Cassatt, and Hopper. The museum’s collection of prints and drawings is one of the finest in the Southwest. The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts is one of the premier collections of its kind in the country. Contemporary art and modern sculpture are growing strengths of the McNay collection, which now numbers over 14,000 objects.
The McNay was the first modern art museum in Texas. Marion Koogler McNay left her art collection, her Spanish Colonial Revival-style residence, and an endowment "for the advancement and enjoyment of modern art." The 23 acres of grounds, which include fountains, broad lawns and a Japanese- inspired garden and fishpond, are popular for picnics and photography. The museum also features a research library with 30,000 volumes, the 300-seat Leeper Auditorium, and a Museum Store. The McNay's founder, for whom the museum is named, was "a discriminating collector, an earnest student of the fine arts and a philanthropist of the first magnitude." Steadfast in her commitment to
"the advancement and enjoyment of modern art," Mrs. McNay's original bequest included her important art collection, her 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion, the 23 acres upon which it sits, and most of her fortune. The McNay was founded in 1950 and opened to the public four years later.
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