Philadelphia Official Visitors Guide - Spring/Summer 2024

ART IS A VITAL COMPONENT OF ANY PHILADELPHIA VISIT. WALK EASILY FROM HOTELS AND PASS THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS TO SEE MAGNIFICENT PUBLIC ARTWORKS ON THE WAY TO SOME OF THE NATION’S FINEST ART INSTITUTIONS.

Philadelphia began integrating art into public spaces as early as the 1700s, when the city served as the nation’s first capital. In 1872, Philadelphia became the first U.S. city to establish a private nonprofit citizen’s organization — Association for Public Art (aPA) — to make art accessible to all. Philadelphia continues to pioneer groundbreaking models for art accessibility that have been replicated in other cities across the country.

TO Fine Art

With the first art museum in the U.S. and the world’s largest private collection of impressionist, postimpressionist, and early modern paintings, Philadelphia is an art lover’s paradise.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) was founded in 1805 as the first art school and art museum in the country.