The Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Seattle Art Museum is the main art museum of downtown Seattle, standing on First Avenue a short walk from Pike Place Market and the waterfront. Its collection ranges across many cultures and periods, and a giant steel worker at the entrance makes it easy to spot from the street.

The story behind it

The museum was founded in 1933 by Richard Fuller, and its first home was an Art Deco building in Volunteer Park, now the Seattle Asian Art Museum. In 1991 the collection moved into a new downtown building designed by the architect Robert Venturi, and the museum expanded again in 2007. That same year its sister site, the Olympic Sculpture Park, opened on the waterfront.

Outside the entrance stands Hammering Man by the artist Jonathan Borofsky, a tall steel silhouette of a worker with an arm that swings as if striking an anvil. It has been a Seattle landmark since the downtown museum opened, and locals use it as a meeting point.

What to look for

• Look up at Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky, a steel figure several storeys high whose arm moves in a steady hammering motion.
• Inside, seek out the Native art of the Northwest Coast, a strong part of the collection that ties the museum to the region around it.
• Notice how the building sits on a slope, with First Avenue running downhill toward the waterfront and Elliott Bay.
• Compare the museum with the nearby streets, where modern towers, older brick buildings and busy sidewalks meet within a few blocks.

Tips for your visit

• You can see Hammering Man from the sidewalk at any time, but the galleries need a ticket, so check current opening hours and admission before you go.
• Allow one to two hours for a focused visit, or longer if you like to read every label.
• Pike Place Market and the waterfront are close, so the museum fits easily into a morning or afternoon on foot.
• Go early or on a weekday if you prefer quieter galleries, and keep the museum for a rainy hour, as Seattle weather often changes.

See it on a quest

You can pass the museum as one stop on Seattle: Harbor of Secrets, Hunt for the Golden Mermaid, a self-guided walk through the harbor area of downtown. You reach each place on foot, the app tells you about it as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group, so you can start whenever you like without a guide.