Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the primary encyclopedic art museum for the state of Utah and the flagship cultural gallery on the University of Utah campus, located at 410 Campus Center Drive in Salt Lake City‘s East Bench district. Tracing its institutional history to 1914 and formally established in 1951 through bequest collections from Winifred Kimball Hudnut and Phoebe Harding, the museum moved into the purpose-built Marcia and John Price Museum Building in 2001. Today, visitors explore more than 22,000 artworks spanning 5,000 years of global visual culture, ranging from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and European Old Masters to American Western paintings, Great Basin Indigenous arts, and major Utah land art stewardship.

What to Expect at Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates, the 74,000-square-foot Marcia and John Price Museum Building anchors the southern edge of the University of Utah campus around the soaring G.W. Anderson Family Great Hall. First-floor spaces introduce rotating contemporary commissions—including the museum’s international salt exhibition series—alongside temporary traveling exhibitions, the Museum Store, and The Museum Café. Ascending the main staircase or passenger elevator to the second floor leads into the permanent collection galleries, which are organized into distinct geographic and thematic zones that prioritize cross-cultural dialogue alongside chronological craft.

Upper-level wings encompass the European Art galleries featuring Italian Renaissance panel paintings, 17th-century Dutch still lifes, and 18th-century French portraiture, including Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s celebrated Portrait of Princess Eudocia Ivanovna Galitzine as Flora. Adjacent wings house American and Regional Art—highlighting Thomas Moran, Maynard Dixon, and Hudson River School landscapes—as well as dedicated galleries for Asian ritual bronzes and ceramics, African ceremonial masks, Mesoamerican pottery, and Ancient Mediterranean and Egyptian antiquities tied to scholar Natacha Rambova. Visitors should check bag-check policies upon arrival, as backpacks and parcels larger than 11 by 15 inches must be stored in the complimentary lobby lockers, and non-flash photography is permitted in most permanent galleries.

• European & Old Master Galleries: Second-floor rooms showcasing Italian Renaissance devotional panels, Dutch Golden Age paintings by Pieter Claesz and Jan Miense Molenaer, and French neoclassical masterworks.
• American & Utah Regional Collection: Works tracing the visual history of the American West and Great Basin, featuring Maynard Dixon, Thomas Moran, LeConte Stewart, and contemporary Native American artists.
• Ancient Egyptian & Mediterranean Antiquities: Funerary artifacts, limestone reliefs, Greek painted vessels, and Egyptian ritual objects contextualized through early 20th-century Egyptologist Natacha Rambova’s scholarship.
• salt Contemporary Art Series & Land Art Curatorship: Ongoing contemporary solo exhibitions such as salt 18: Amor Muñoz and sculptural installations like Onishi Yasuaki’s Stone on Boundary, alongside UMFA’s curatorial stewardship of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty and Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels.
• Museum Café & Store: A sunlit ground-floor café serving espresso, pastries, and light lunches beside a curated gift shop stocking exhibition catalogs, art books, and jewelry crafted by Utah artisans.

Utah Museum of Fine Arts at a Glance

Visiting Tips, Getting There & Nearby Pairings

For the quietest experience in the second-floor galleries, arrive right at 10:00 AM on Tuesday or weekend mornings, or take advantage of Wednesday evening hours when the museum stays open until 8:00 PM. UMFA hosts free admission for all visitors on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of every month, making advance online ticket reservations on the UMFA Plan Your Visit page especially practical on those dates. Travelers arriving by public transit can ride the UTA TRAX Red Line to the South Campus Station and walk five minutes north across Mario Capecchi Drive, while drivers can pull into the visitor parking lot directly east of the Marcia and John Price Museum Building and validate their license plate at the front admissions desk for free parking during their visit.

The building is fully step-free and ADA accessible, offering automatic entry doors, wide gallery corridors, accessible restrooms, bench seating throughout the galleries, complimentary manual wheelchairs at the front desk, and large-capacity elevator access to all public levels. Because UMFA sits in the cultural core of the University of Utah, it pairs naturally with nearby East Bench attractions: walk two minutes west to the Pioneer Memorial Theatre, catch the free campus shuttle or drive five minutes uphill to the Natural History Museum of Utah and Red Butte Garden and Arboretum along Wakara Way, or head five minutes west along 200 South into the 9th & 9th and University neighborhoods for local coffee houses and casual bistros.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the operating hours at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts?

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is open Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The galleries are closed to the public on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, as well as major state and federal holidays.

How much does admission to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts cost?

General admission is $19.95 for adults and $16.95 for seniors (65+) and youth ages 6 to 18, while children age 5 and under enter free. Admission is always free for UMFA members and students, faculty, and staff of the University of Utah and other public Utah colleges with a valid ID, as well as for the general public on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month.

How much time should I budget for a visit to UMFA?

Most visitors spend 1.5 to 2.5 hours exploring the first-floor special exhibitions and the second-floor global permanent collections. If you plan to attend a live Sight & Sound music performance, join a docent-led gallery tour, or have lunch at The Museum Café, budget closer to 3 hours.

Is the Utah Museum of Fine Arts accessible and suitable for families with children?

Yes, the Marcia and John Price Museum Building provides step-free access, elevators to all floors, accessible parking spaces, and loaner wheelchairs at the admissions desk. Families benefit from stroller-friendly galleries, free admission for children under six, and hands-on studio art activities during Third Saturday for Families programming.

When planning your Salt Lake City travel guide or browsing verified museums in Salt Lake City, pair this stop with standout local spots including The Capital Grille, Pago, Temple Square, and Salt Lake City Marriott University Park (1.1 km away).