The High's Early Years

Originally founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, the High Museum of Art received its first permanent home in 1926 when Mrs. Joseph M. High donated her family's residence on Peachtree Street. In 1955, the Museum moved to a new brick structure adjacent to the original High house. When the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center opened in 1968, the High Museum of Art was at its center.

A New Museum By Richard Meier

In 1979, Coca-Cola magnate Robert W. Woodruff offered a $7.5 million challenge grant for a new facility that would triple the High Museum of Art's space to 135,000 square feet. After raising $20 million, the High Museum of Art opened its new Richard Meier designed home in 1983. Among its many awards, the American Institute of Architects deemed the Meier design one of the "ten best works of American architecture in the 1980s."

The stunning, porcelain-enameled building is the ideal setting for the High Museum of Art's collection of over 11,000 pieces of art. A towering atrium soars to four interior levels, with the galleries moving from 18th and 19th-century collections near the ground floor to the cutting edge of contemporary art on the upper levels.

The Expansion By Renzo Piano

The High Museum of Art continued to enjoy phenomenal growth through the 1990s and into the 21st century. To accommodate the growth, acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano was commissioned to design three new buildings. Opened in November 2005, the expansion of the High Museum of Art doubled its size to 312,000 square feet.

All three new buildings in the expansion of the High Museum of Art are clad in panels of aluminum to unite with Richard Meier's original choice of a white enamel façade. Often called the "master of light," Piano's sculpturally inspired buildings meld seamlessly with the High's existing light-filled Richard Meier structure.

Piano's design of the new Wieland Pavilion and the Anne Cox Chambers Wing features a special roof system of 1,000 light scoops that capture northern light and filter it into the skyway galleries. The Wieland Pavilion houses part of the Museum's modern and contemporary collection in the Skyway, and includes galleries on the Lower Level dedicated to African art, photography and works on paper. The Anne Cox Chambers Wing features special collections.

The renovated Stent Family Wing is home to the Museum's permanent and folk art collections. The High Café and the Museum's new Greene Family Education Center and Greene Family Learning Gallery are also located in the Stent Family Wing.

Piano's signature piazza design opens the High Museum of Art to the surrounding Woodruff Arts Center and neighborhood, inviting both residents and visitors to connect and relax among the art-inspired environs.