The LSU Museum of Art seeks to enrich and inspire through collections, exhibitions, conservation, and education, serving as a cultural and intellectual resource for the University, Baton Rouge, and beyond.

Founded in 1959, the museum opened its doors to the public in 1962 as a small period room museum in the Memorial Tower. In 2005, it moved to the Shaw Center for the Arts, where it has more than 13,000 square feet of immense exhibition space. As the only dedicated art museum in the city of Baton Rouge, the LSU Museum of Art serves more than 20,000 adults and children who visit the museum’s galleries annually.

The museum presents world-class touring exhibitions of regional, American, and European painting, sculpture, decorative arts, works on paper, and photography. The permanent collection consists of more than 6,500 objects, ranging from a world-class collection of Chinese jade to one of the most comprehensive public collections of Louisiana art. In March 2016, the museum unveiled a complete reinstallation of this collection focused on the art and culture of Louisiana, filling over 10,000 square feet of gallery space with art installations that examine Louisiana’s complex regional history.