Guided Tours for Adults

Plan a unique experience for your group with an in-person or virtual tour of exhibitions at the Jewish Museum led by Jewish Museum educators. Book an in-person guided tour at a dedicated time to discover the stories behind the works of art on view or a virtual tour to learn about an exhibition online.

To schedule an in-person or virtual tour for your group, please fill out the Tour Request Form. If you have additional questions, please contact us at schedulingcoordinator@thejm.org or 212.423.3290.

Adult In-Person Tour fees for 60 minutes:
- $400 for up to 20 people

Adult Virtual Tour fees for 60 minutes:
- $350 for up to 500 people
- For groups over 500, please email schedulingcoordinator@thejm.org for pricing information.

University Tour fees for 60 minutes:
-$250 In-person University tours for up to 20 people
-$200 Virtual University tours for up to 500 people

Guided group tours are available Sunday through Friday from 11 am – 5 pm, subject to availability. The Museum recommends scheduling tours at least four weeks in advance.

Self-guided visits (maximum 20 people per group):
-$350 Adult groups
-$200 University groups

Exhibition Tour

Tissot and the Hebrew Bible

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Joseph Distributes Bread in the Prison, Gouache on board,10 1/2 × 7 3/4 in. (26.7 × 19.7 cm), Gift of the heirs of Jacob Schiff

The Jewish Museum presents Tissot and the Hebrew Bible, an installation of original designs by the French painter James Tissot (1836-1902) from a group of more than 350 paintings related to his goal of illustrating the Hebrew Bible. Spanning all of the books, from Genesis to the Prophets, Tissot’s watercolor illustrations are some of the most beloved and sought-after images in the Jewish Museum’s collection. The biblical stories are illustrated in cinematic vignettes that have influenced popular culture for decades.

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Exhibition Tour

Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte!

IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL TOURS

Marta Minujín, Para hacer el amor inadvertidamente (For Making Love Inconspicuously), 2010, acrylic, tempera, and lacquer on mattress fabric with foam rubber, 94 × 135 × 30 in. (239 × 343 × 76 cm). The Speyer Family Collection, New York. © Marta Minujín, courtesy of Henrique Faria, New York and Herlitzka & Co., Buenos Aires.

Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! includes nearly 100 works organized to reflect Minujín’s bold experimentation over six decades. The exhibition charts Minujín’s influential career in Buenos Aires as well as time spent in Paris, New York, and Washington, DC, through a range of pioneering, mattress-based soft sculptures; fluorescent large-scale paintings; psychedelic drawings and performances; and vintage film footage. The artist’s ephemeral works—happenings, participatory installations, and monumental public art—are presented through rarely seen photographs, video, and other documentation.

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Exhibition Tour

Mood of the moment: Gaby Aghion and the house of Chloé

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Dress designed by Phoebe Philo, autumn–winter 2004, chiffon. Photo: Julien Hamon

Mood of the moment: Gaby Aghion and the house of Chloé casts a new light on the label’s 70-year history with nearly 150 garments as well as never-before-exhibited sketches and documents from the Chloé Archive. Highlighting Aghion’s vision of effortless, luxurious fashion, and the work of iconic designers who began their careers with the brand, including Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, and Phoebe Philo, the exhibition showcases Aghion as a leader whose work altered the course of the global fashion industry in liberating women's bodies from the restrictive attitudes and styles of the time, as well as pioneering the emergence of luxury ready-to-wear. Tours will explore the ways in which each subsequent creative director after Aghion uniquely interpreted the Chloé ethos and echoed the needs of their time, from the development of ready-to-wear to embracing sustainable practices in fashion. This historical overview includes designs by Karl Lagerfeld (first hired by Aghion in 1964), Martine Sitbon, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, Hannah MacGibbon, Clare Waight Keller, Natacha Ramsay-Levi, and Gabriela Hearst, Chloé’s current creative director.

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Exhibition Tour

The Sassoons

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Sybil, Countess of Rocksavage, 1922. Oil on canvas; 63 ½ × 35 5/8 in. (161.3 × 89.8 cm). Framed dims: 74 13/16 x 48 in. (190 x 122cms). Houghton Hall Collection

The Sassoons reveals the fascinating story of a remarkable Jewish family, following four generations from Iraq to India, China, and England through a rich selection of works collected by family members over time. The exhibition highlights the Sassoon family’s pioneering role in trade, art collecting, architectural patronage, and civic engagement from the early 19th century through World War II and features paintings, decorative arts, illuminated manuscripts, and Judaica.  Highlights include lavishly decorated Hebrew manuscripts, Chinese art and ivory carvings, rare Jewish ceremonial art, masterful paintings by Gainsborough and Corot, and magnificent portraits by John Singer Sargent of various Sassoon family members. The Sassoons explores themes such as discrimination, diaspora, colonialism, global trade, and war that not only shaped the history of the family but continue to define our world today. 

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Exhibition Tour

New York: 1962 - 1964

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Marjorie Strider, Girl with Radish, 1963. Acrylic on laminated pine on Masonite panels, 72 x 60 in. Collection of Ruth and Theodore Baum, New York/Palm Beach, FL

The Jewish Museum’s influential role in the early 1960s New York art scene is the jumping-off point for an exhibition that explores a pivotal three-year period in the history of art and culture in New York City. New York: 1962–1964 examines how artists living in the city responded to their rapidly changing world through more than 150 works of art. The exhibition includes works of art by Diane Arbus, Merce Cunningham, Jim Dine, Melvin Edwards, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Yayoi Kusama, Norman Lewis, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Faith Ringgold, James Rosenquist, Carolee Schneemann, Marjorie Strider, Mark di Suvero, Bob Thompson, and Andy Warhol, among many others and aligns with the years of Alan Solomon’s tenure as the Jewish Museum’s influential director. Solomon organized exhibitions dedicated to what he called the “New Art,” transforming the Jewish Museum into one of the most important cultural hubs in New York.

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Exhibition Tour

Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Installation view of "Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry." Photo by Jason Mandella

The artist Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944) is an icon of Jazz Age New York. Born to a Jewish family in Rochester, she studied at the Art Students League in New York City and then in Europe, where she encountered two profound influences: the Symbolist painters and poets and, on the eve of the Great War, the Ballets Russes. The exhibition featured over 50 paintings and drawings, a selection of costume and theater designs, photographs and ephemera, as well as critically acclaimed poems, to offer a timely reconsideration of this important American artist, revealing Stettheimer's singular and often satiric vision and significant role in American modern art. This virtual tour highlights the artist's distinctly personal style of painting, Stettheimer's position amidst New York's artistic elite and avant-gardes, and her continued influence on artistic practice today.

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Exhibition Tour

Chagall: Love, War, and Exile Tour

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Installation view of the exhibition Chagall: Love, War and Exile. The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald.

Chagall: Love, War, and Exile explores a significant but lesser-known period in the artist’s career from the rise of fascism in the 1930s through 1948, years spent in Paris and then in exile to New York. Marc Chagall (1887–1985), one of the foremost modernists of the 20th century, created his unique style by drawing on elements from richly colored folk art motifs, the Russian Christian icon tradition, Cubism, and Surrealism. Beginning with the evocative paintings from his years in France, the exhibition illuminates an artist deeply responsive to the suffering inflicted by war—often expressed with Christian imagery—and to his own personal losses and intimate sorrows. By the late 1940s, Chagall returns to colorful, joy-filled work celebrating love.

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Exhibition Tour

The Hare with Amber Eyes

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Masatoshi (sign.) Recumbent hare with raised forepaw, c. 1880 Ivory, buffalo horn De Waal Family Collection

The Hare with Amber Eyes evokes the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally, World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting. Diller Scofidio + Renfro, working closely with de Waal and the Jewish Museum, has created an interpretive installation that brings together pieces from the Ephrussi’s collections including artworks by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Gustave Moreau, and Auguste Renoir. At the exhibition’s centerpiece is the extraordinary collection of Japanese netsuke, miniature carved sculptures of the Edo Period (17th-19th centuries), hidden by a maid from German officials in her mattress during World War II, and later returned to the family after the war. 

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Exhibition Tour

Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Henri Matisse Daisies, July 16, 1939 Oil on canvas The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Helen Pauling Donnelley in memory of her parents, Mary Fredericka and Edward George Pauling, 1983.206

During World War II, untold numbers of artworks and cultural property were stolen by Nazi forces and, after the war, an estimated one million artworks and 2.5 million books were recovered. This exhibition chronicles the stories of the objects looted from Jewish families during the war including works by such renowned artists such as Marc Chagall, Paul Cézanne, Franz Marc, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Camille Pissarro.

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Exhibition Tour

Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Photo: Will Ragozzino

Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn explores Andy Warhol’s fascination with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor and the tabloid world they embodied. The fact that Hollywood’s blonde bombshell and violet-eyed siren were both converted Jews was significant: It signaled a growing popular acceptance of Jewish public figures. Warhol’s portraits, of these two subjects, explore the complex, manufactured nature of identity. 

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Exhibition Tour

Modigliani Unmasked

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella

This exhibition of Amedeo Modigliani's early drawings—including examples of his striking paintings and majestic sculpture—illuminates the artist's relationship to his own Sephardic Jewish heritage and to the works of art that inspired him.

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Exhibition Tour

Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Installation view of Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art. The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo by: Jason Mandella

Learn about the remarkable career of Edith Halpert, the trailblazing art dealer who championed the work of American artists, Stuart Davis, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ben Shahn, and Marsden Hartley.

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Exhibition Tour

Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922

VIRTUAL TOURS ONLY

Installation view of the exhibition Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922, September 14, 2018 - January 6, 2019, The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella

Explore the bold and innovative work of Marc Chagall, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, and others, produced during a little-known but influential chapter in the history of modernity and the Russian avant-garde.

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Exhibition Tour

Scenes from the Collection

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON TOURS

Explore the Jewish Museum’s rotating collection exhibition which features nearly 600 works from antiquities to contemporary art and addresses themes such as cultural identity, memory, immigration, and language.

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Pre-K-12 Groups

School group tours are now being offered both in-person at the Museum or virtually via Zoom. Tours are led by Jewish Museum educators, and are arts-based, interactive, and hands-on. Pre-K—12th grade school, camp, or youth groups may explore current exhibitions or works of art in the Jewish Museum's collection focusing on themes including Materials in Art, Social Justice, Portraiture, and Immigration.

Virtual School Tours:
45-60 minutes: $140 per class

In-Person School Tours:
60 minutes: $140 per class
Gallery tour and gallery activities only

90 minutes: $190 per class
Grades PreK-6 - gallery tour and studio art project
Grades 7-12 - gallery tour including extended discussion and activities

120 minutes: $245 per class
All grades, extended discussion and studio art project

A limited number of free or reduced rate tours are available for Title I NYC public schools; self-contained special education classes can request free tours.

In-person school groups are limited to 28 students per tour and typically, two tours may run at the same time. On Sundays, the maximum number of participants per tour (including chaperones) is 24. For Special Education classes, the maximum number of students is 12. Special accommodations will be made for New York City Public school classes with more than 28 students. One chaperone must accompany every 10 students; a maximum of five chaperones may accompany each class. Each classroom must be booked as a separate tour group.

Group size for virtual tours is limited to 30 students per tour. For Special Education classes, the maximum number of students is 12. Each classroom must be booked as a separate tour group.

To schedule a tour, please fill out the Tour Request Form. If you have additional questions, please contact us at schoolprograms@thejm.org or 212.423.3270.

Plan a Visit

Exhibition Visit

Marta Minujin: Arte! Arte! Arte!

November 17, 2023 - March 31, 2024
Grades: Pre-K–12

Marta Minujin, Conceptos entrelazados (Intertwined Concepts), c. 2019-22. Acrylic, tempera, and lacquer on mattress fabric with foam rubber. 98⅜ × 102⅜ × 51⅛ in. (250 × 260 × 130 cm) Collection of the artist. © Marta Minujín, courtesy of Henrique Faria, New York and Herlitzka & Co., Buenos Aires.

Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! includes nearly 100 works which reflect Minujín’s bold experimentation over six decades. The exhibition foregrounds her pioneering soft sculptures, fluorescent large-scale painting, psychedelic drawings, and performances created throughout Minujin's career in Buenos Aires, Paris, and New York.  The artist’s ephemeral works—happenings, participatory installations, and monumental public art—are presented through rarely seen photographs, video, and other documentation.

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English Language Arts

The Art of Maurice Sendak

Virtual tour only
Grades: Pre-K-5

Maurice Sendak (American, 1928 – 2012), final illustration for “and made him king of the wild things” from Where The Wild Things Are, 1963, watercolor on paper. From the Maurice Sendak Collection at the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia

Explore the work of renowned children's book author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak—subject of the 2005 Jewish Museum exhibition, Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak. In addition to examining Sendak’s best-known works, Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, students will consider Sendak’s influences from pop culture, his childhood in Brooklyn, and Eastern European folklore. 

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English Language Arts

The Art of Ezra Jack Keats

Virtual tour only
Grades: Pre-K-5

Image from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, with special permission from the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Examine the colorful illustrations and urban landscapes of Brooklyn-born, award-winning picture book creator Ezra Jack Keats.  Tours focus on visual storytelling, Keats' autobiographical inspirations, as well as his use of color and collage. The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats was on view at the Jewish Museum from September 9, 2011--January 29, 2012.

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Art: Materials and Process

The Art of Marc Chagall

Virtual tour only
Grades: Pre-K-12

Marc Chagall, "Maternity," 1950s, lithograph on paper.

Discover the dreamlike, symbolic imagery of renowned modern artist Marc Chagall. Students will compare and contrast works of art by Chagall featured in past exhibitions with works of art in the Jewish Museum's collection.

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Art: Materials and Process

The Art of the Book

In-person tour only
Grades: 3-12

Benjamin Nathansohn, Prayer Hymn for Alexander I, 1818, ink and paint on silk, brocade cover. The Jewish Museum, New York, Gift of Dr. Harry G. Friedman.

In this studio-based workshop, students examine parchments, reed pens, and the natural resources used to produce medieval books. Students view original manuscripts in the galleries, grind natural pigments such as saffron or malachite using a mortar and pestle, and illuminate their own works of art with gold leaf.

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Art: Materials and Process

Art & Social Justice

Grades: 6-12

George Segal, Abraham and Isaac (in Memory of May 4, 1970, Kent State University), 1978, plaster, cloth, rope, metal, and acrylic paint. Gift of the George and Helen Segal Foundation.

Explore ways that artists address social and political issues and even advocate for change through their works of art. Students examine art made in response to historical events and movements; to intolerance; to representations of gender, identity, and race; and to social conventions and customs.

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Art: Materials and Process

Materials in Art

Grades: Pre-K-12

Harriete Estel Berman, Alms Container, 1999.

Students compare works of art in a variety of media and consider the choices artists make. Tours may explore art from ancient to contemporary, from paintings and photographs to sculptures created from lightbulbs and other everyday objects.

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History and Global Studies

Immigration Past and Present

Grades: 3-12

Maurycy Minkowski, After the Pogrom, c. 1910.

Art can offer new perspectives on the experiences of immigrants by focusing on themes such as assimilation and collective identity.  Through close looking and discussion, students reflect upon the personal and communal experience of immigration and make connections between historical movements and contemporary issues.

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History and Global Studies

Remembering the Holocaust

Grades: 6-12

Abshalom Jac Lahav, Anne Frank, 2007.

Students discuss, interpret, and establish connections between the events of World War II and works of art and artifacts related to the Holocaust.

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History and Global Studies

Number the Stars

Grades: 3-5

Michael David, Warsaw, 1980, pigment and wax on Masonite. The Jewish Museum, New York.

Elementary school students reading Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars focus on issues of resistance and hope through an exploration of age-appropriate works on view.

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Ritual and Ceremony

Festivals of Light

Grades: Pre-K-4

Rod Baer, Every December, Hanukkah Lamp, 1995.

Explore the role of light in the Diwali, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa holidays and view the Museum’s spectacular collection of Hanukkah lamps. Groups may request to focus solely on Hanukkah.

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Ritual and Ceremony

Ceremonial Objects

Grades: K-12

Reddish Studio: Naama Steinbock and Idan Friedman, Menorah (Candlesticks United Hanukiyah), Hanukkah Lamp, 2011.

Examine ritual objects and related paintings, exploring how artists merge artistic style with function. Students learn about Jewish culture and ceremonies through an examination of traditional objects. 

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Identity

People and Portraits

Grades: Pre-K-5

Reuven Rubin, Goldfish Vendor, 1928.

Consider how artists depict people, using the gestures, facial expressions, and body language of their subjects to communicate ideas and emotions.  Compare and contrast works in different media to explore how artistic choices impact the viewer’s experience.

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Identity

Art and Identity

Grades: 6-12

Raphael Soyer, Dancing Lesson, 1926.

Students consider personal, collective, and cultural identity through an examination of paintings, sculptures, or photographs. Tours may address issues of assimilation, stereotypes and discrimination, and heritage.

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English Language Arts

Objects Tell Stories

Grades: K-12

Wedding Sofa from North Germany, possibly Danzig (Gdansk, Poland).

Students examine works of art and cultural artifacts in the Jewish Museum’s collection as primary sources to learn more about their historical and artistic contexts and the stories they reveal.

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History and Global Studies

Archaeological Dig

Grades: K-6

Horse Figurine, Israel, 1000-586 B.C.E., clay: hand-formed, incised, and fired. The Jewish Museum, New York, purchase: gift of the Betty and Max Ratner Collection, 1981-223.

Students make connections between past and present, discover artifacts from ancient cultures, and learn about excavations in the Museum’s hands-on, simulated archaeological dig.

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Camp Groups

Inspire your students this summer with our tours for camp groups. During these engaging themed visits, campers may dig for treasure in our simulated archaeological dig or explore our current exhibitions and create works of art from familiar, everyday objects.

In-Person Camp Tours:
60 minutes: $140 per group
Gallery tour and gallery activities only

90 minutes: $190 per group
Grades PreK-6 - gallery tour and studio art project
Grades 7-12 - gallery tour including extended discussion and activities

120 minutes: $245 per group
All ages - extended discussion and studio art project

To schedule a visit for your students or camp group, please fill out the Tour Request Form. If you have additional questions, please contact us at schoolprograms@thejm.org or 212.423.3270.

Plan a Visit

Identity

Picturing People

Grades: Pre-K-12

Reuven Rubin, Goldfish Vendor, 1928, Oil on canvas. The Jewish Museum, New York, Gift of Kitty and Harold J. Ruttenberg.

Learn how body language, facial expressions, gestures, and even clothing convey meaning in portraits. 

BOOK TOUR

Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations

Digging for Treasures

Grades: K-6

Lamp, second half 3rd-5th century CE, clay: mold-formed, slipped, and fired. The Jewish Museum, New York, Gift of the Betty and Max Ratner Collection.

Discover artifacts from long ago in the Museum’s hands-on, simulated archaeological dig. Examine objects from ancient cultures, and learn about the tools and techniques of archaeologists.

BOOK TOUR

Art: Materials and Process

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Grades: Pre-K-12

Matthew McCaslin, Being the Light, 2000, Light bulbs, porcelain light fixtures, metal electrical conduit, switches, and metal receptacle box. Purchase: Contemporary Judaica Acquisitions Committee Fund and Judaica Acquisitions Fund.

Encounter unusual materials and everyday objects used to create amazing works of art. Tours may explore art from ancient to contemporary and from paintings and photographs to sculptures.

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University Groups

The Jewish Museum invites professors and students to engage with our collection and special exhibitions through close looking, guided conversations, and studio workshops. Our university programs aim to provide accessible and flexible formats for incorporating art in the Museum into teaching, learning, and making.

Conversations with Art
University classes may book hour-long visits to our temporary exhibitions or permanent collection, guided by the Museum’s educators and curators. Conversations with Art can be tailored to specific class topics.

Studio Workshops
We offer university studio workshops in tandem with our special exhibitions. Following a guided conversation about art on view in the Museum, students participate in related creative practices by making their own work with a teaching artist in our studio.

Please email universityprograms@thejm.org or call the scheduling coordinator at 212.423.3279 to book a visit for your group.

Installation view of Jack Goldstein × 10,000, The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo: David Andrako.