Yale University Art Gallery
The Connecticut Art Trail gave me a reason to travel throughout the state in search of art and history. Its participating locations included large museums, smaller galleries, artists’ studios, and historic houses. Each stop offered something different, turning the trail into more than a tour of art collections. It became a way to explore Connecticut one community at a time.
The trail began in 1995 as the Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail, connecting ten museums and historic sites associated with the state’s important role in American Impressionism. It later expanded to include institutions representing many artistic periods and cultures. The passport encouraged visitors to move beyond the best-known museums and discover historic places they might otherwise have overlooked.
The farthest I traveled on the trail was to New Haven and the Yale University Art Gallery. Founded in 1832, it began when Revolutionary-era artist John Trumbull donated more than one hundred of his paintings to Yale and helped design a gallery in which to display them. It is recognized as the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere.
Reaching the Yale University Art Gallery completed the longest part of my Connecticut Art Trail journey. What began as a guide to museums led me across the state, through historic houses and unfamiliar towns, and finally to one of the country’s oldest and most distinguished university art collections. The trail demonstrated how art can become a pathway into the broader history of a place.
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