The Boca Raton Museum of Art

501 Plaza Real
Mizner Park
Boca Raton, Florida 33432

Written by Julie Greiner

The new Art Museum at Mizner Park in Boca Raton is in the center of South Florida's Gold Coast infamous rich and famous. Mizner Park, an international tourist top ten destination, sets a unique and quaint setting with its boutiques, restaurants, cobblestone streets and distinctive architecture. The new Museum at Mizner Park officially opened to the public in January of 2001. The Museum has played a key role in enhancing the cultural, educational and economic vitality of Boca Raton and its surrounding communities and

View of the Grand Hall at the Boca Raton Museum of Art

Courtesy Boca Raton Museum of Art

has gained the reputation of being one of South Florida's leading cultural institutions, attracting more than 90,000 visitors annually to its galleries.

History and Beginnings of the Boca Museum of Art

The original Museum dates back to the 1940s, when a group of socially active women formed the town's first civic club with the intention of building a small library. An open house was held in the 1920's Town Hall, and an estimated 1,000 people attended. An exhibition of paintings, borrowed from friends and loaned by galleries from Palm Beach to Miami graced the Hall and this prompted the forming of the Art Guild of Boca Raton in 1950. The first Art Guild building was dedicated in 1962, which it occupied until 2001 and now houses the art school. The Board of Trustees saw the need to expand the Museum's collections by the 1980s and future plans began to form for a new facility.

Boca Raton Museum of Art in Mizner Park

The new Museum shares a 5.7 acre site with an outdoor amphitheater which is planned to be transformed into a state-of-the-art concert hall and the new home of the Florida Philharmonic. The Museum's new 44,000 square foot facility enables the expansion of exhibition, education and collection galleries. The Museum attracts people of all ages with its permanent and traveling exhibitions, interactive children's educational gallery

View of the Sculpture Garden at the Boca Raton Museum of Art

Courtesy Boca Raton Museum of Art

and expanded sculpture garden. The outdoor plazas encourage the visitor to linger and a grand hallway and large catering kitchen ensures that the Boca Raton Museum of Art is the ideal place for meetings and social gatherings.

Annual All Florida Juried Competition

For the past 51 years, the Boca Raton Museum of Art has sponsored this gala event which has become a premier social event of South Florida. All artists residing in the state of Florida are invited to submit entries for the competition and exhibition. Original paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photography, video and computer generated images are entered. The Boca Raton Museum of Art's purpose in sponsoring this competition is to encourage and support enthusiasm in an emerging generation of artists. The Boca Raton Museum of Art's Outdoor Juried Art Festival is ranked in the top 50 art festivals nationally. For more information about exhibits and tours call 561-392-2500.

Great Exhibitions at the Boca Raton Museum of Art

The Museum's collections include a superb assembly of modern masters -

View of the Teacups Exhibit at the Boca Raton Museum of Art

Courtesy Boca Raton Museum of Art

Braque, Degas, Demuth, Glackens, Klee, Matisse, Picasso, and Seurat, outstanding examples of 19th and 20th century photography, Pre Columbian and African art, and significant examples of contemporary painting and sculpture.