Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
art museum in Kansas City, Missouri
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, Time magazine ranked the museum's new Bloch Building number one on its list of "The 10 Best (New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels" which considered candidates from around the globe.
The museum is open five days a week: Monday from 10 am-5 pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday, open Thursday 10-9, Friday 10-9, Saturday and Sunday 10-5.
Admission is free.
History
The museum was built on the grounds of Oak Hall, the home of Kansas City Star publisher William Rockhill Nelson (1841–1915). When he died in 1915, his will provided that upon the deaths of his wife and daughter, the proceeds of his entire estate would go to purchasing artwork for public enjoyment. This bequest was augmented by additional funds from the estates of Nelson's daughter, son-in-law and attorney.
In 1911, former schoolteacher Mary McAfee Atkins (1836–1911), widow of real estate speculator James Burris Atkins, bequeathed $300,000 to establish an art museum. Through sound management of the estate and a booming economy in the Roaring Twenties, this amount grew to $700,000 by 1927. Original plans called for two art museums based on the separate bequests (with the Atkins Museum to be located in Penn Valley Park).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art” is art museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Nelson-Atkins, Museum and museum, not as a finished interpretation.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1976985. VIAF identifies the subject as 139465505. The Library of Congress control number is n83044954. Authority coordinates are 39.045, -94.581. 3 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007, 1841, 1915 and 1911.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.