Yale University Art Gallery

Most people combine a visit to the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) with other nearby attractions, including the Yale Center for British Art across the street or Yale’s leafy Old Campus quad on the next block. It takes around one hour to roam through the collection. For a narrated experience, join a highlights tour by a Yale University undergraduate on select weekdays. YUAG also frequently hosts temporary exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, and panel discussions with artists and scholars, so check the online calendar for events.

• The YUAG website offers downloadable family-friendly activities on a self-guided basis. Strollers are allowed in the galleries and can also be borrowed from the Information Desk.

• Photography is allowed, but turn off the flash, as it can damage the artwork on display. Rather than take pictures of the pieces, consider sketching them. The Information Desk can supply pencil and paper.

• All sections of the gallery are wheelchair-accessible. There is also a wheelchair-accessible entrance opposite the main entrance on Chapel Street. A limited number of wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Blind or partially sighted visitors can request a special tailored tour.

• YUAG has no on-site dining options, but restaurants and coffee shops in the vicinity abound. One local favorite is Atticus Bookstore and Café, located a half-block down Chapel Street.

Many people visit New Haven on a day trip from New York City. The city is reachable by Metro North commuter train from Grand Central Station and by Amtrak regional train from Penn Station. YUAG is a 25-minute walk from the station, an 8-minute taxi ride, or a 15-minute bus ride (lines 274, 271, or 272). Metered parking is also available.

YUAG is open every day of the week except for Mondays. It is closed on Yale Commencement (dates vary; check the date in advance) and major holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every Thursday from September through June, the gallery holds special after-hours opening times. There are also special talks and symposia throughout the academic year.

Acclaimed modernist architect Louis Khan was once faculty at Yale University’s School of Architecture. Khan built one of YUAG’s buildings, completed in 1953 and recognizable inside the gallery from its open-loft design (the minimalist, rectangular glass facade presents an amusing contrast to the Neo-Gothic church next to it.) Also on Chapel Street, the Yale Center for British Art was Khan’s last design before his death.