PAFA The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

PAFA The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts PAFA is the first art school and museum in the US offering classes and programs for all ages. Join the conversation—we want to hear from you!

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09/03/2026

When is an artwork finished? 🖌️

Art museums and schools often place a lot of emphasis on the finished work. The polished painting goes on the wall. The completed assignment earns the grade. You don’t expect to walk into an art museum and see unfinished works. You don’t expect to pass art school without finishing your projects.

But what about the unfinished?

Does an unfinished work count for nothing?

To Be Continued... explores the process of making and what happens before a work is considered finished. Featuring unfinished paintings, studies, sketches, and works that challenge traditional ideas of what constitutes a completed artwork, the exhibition invites us to consider experimentation, revision, and incompletion not as failures, but as essential parts of the artistic process. Even for the most renowned artists, every finished masterpiece exists alongside countless works left unresolved, abandoned, or perpetually in progress.

Featuring works by Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Arthur B. Carles, Eastman Johnson, Alex Katz, and Violet Oakley.

To Be Continued...
August 27, 2026–March 8, 2027
Frances M. Maguire Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building

Why are more people turning to plein air painting?Recent reporting from Smithsonian Magazine and ARTnews suggests that a...
09/02/2026

Why are more people turning to plein air painting?

Recent reporting from Smithsonian Magazine and ARTnews suggests that artists are increasingly embracing plein air painting and other traditional art practices as a response to our digital world. Painting outdoors offers a slower, more immersive experience that encourages observation, patience, and connection to the natural world.

One psychologist described the appeal this way: making art by hand "moves someone from spectator to participant." In an age when technology can deliver a result instantly, traditional artmaking gives us the experience back.

The French term plein air means "open air," and for generations artists have stepped outside to capture a moment with paint rather than pixels.

This fall, take your practice outdoors with a PAFA Continuing Education plein air class. Slow down, look closely, and discover what happens when you paint directly from life.

🎨 Explore upcoming classes 🔗 https://buff.ly/5LRMU0A
Sources: Claire Turrell, "Why Gen Z Is Learning to Paint Like 19th-Century Artists," Smithsonian Magazine, August 18, 2026; George Nelson, "Gen Z and Millennials are Rejecting AI for Plein Air: Morning Links for August 19, 2026," ARTnews, August 19, 2026.

❤️ Because of members like you, PAFA continues to tell America's diverse story through art, creating meaningful experien...
09/02/2026

❤️ Because of members like you, PAFA continues to tell America's diverse story through art, creating meaningful experiences with our collections, exhibitions, and public programs.

As a thank-you, we're excited to introduce two new PAFA Museum Member benefits this fall:

🖼️ Members-Only Tours
Beginning in September, PAFA Museum Members can enjoy exclusive docent-led tours offered monthly, exploring unique themes, artists, and stories throughout the museum.
https://buff.ly/Uyybz3D

☕ Your First Cup Is on Us
Starting September 3, PAFA Museum Members can get a complimentary drip coffee at Top Hat Coffee Lounge during their visit. Just show your member card and enjoy!

Whether you're discovering a new exhibition or revisiting your favorite artwork, we're making your museum experience even more rewarding.

Thank you for being part of our community.
🖼️ Hugh Henry Breckenridge, Philadelphia, by 1917; Mark Rothko, Untitled (Maroon Over Red), 1968; Albert Bierstadt, Niagara, 1869

09/01/2026

DO YOU LIKE…

Fire? 🔥
Pouring molten bronze?
Bending and sculpting metal to your will?
Fusing metal together using a tungsten electrode? ⚡
Making something out of nothing with your hands?

Find yourself in the foundry.

Get hands-on with the foundry process at PAFA with Pavel Efremoff. Learn wax modeling and casting, ceramic shell techniques, bronze pouring, metal chasing, TIG welding, patination, and mold-making, including how to create molds for bronze casting and make objects in multiples.

☀️ Introduction to Foundry and Mold-Making
Thursdays, 12:30–4 PM
🔗 https://buff.ly/oLENbEW

🌙 Foundry: Introduction/All Levels
Thursdays, 6–9:30 PM
🔗 https://buff.ly/PauyZRW

Both are 12-week, 42-hour condensed courses starting September 10, and all levels are welcome.

All levels welcome.

Register by September 3.

08/31/2026

🏹 🪡 Nothing says “fine, I’ll handle it myself” like challenging your suitors to an archery contest you know they can’t win.

In The Odyssey, Penelope spent years fending off suitors while Odysseus was away, cleverly delaying remarriage by promising to choose a husband once she finished weaving—only to secretly undo her work each night.

When her plan was discovered and Odysseus finally returned in disguise, Penelope had one more strategy: a contest she knew only Odysseus could win.

Italian sculptor Rinaldo Rinaldi captures Penelope with the objects central to her plan: a bow and arrows in hand, ready to challenge her suitors in the famous archery contest from Homer’s The Odyssey.

Visit PAFA's Museum to see Rinaldi’s marble sculpture of Penelope in A Nation of Artists and discover more stories from the history of American art.

08/30/2026

POV: You live in a William Trost Richards painting.

Philadelphia-born artist William Trost Richards (1833–1905) was fascinated by the coast, studying waves, light, atmosphere, and the ever-changing relationship between land and sea. His travels through Britain inspired a number of coastal works, including this view of Tenby, Wales

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Richards studied at PAFA and was awarded the honor of Academician in 1860. The Beach at Tenby, Wales is part of PAFA’s permanent collection, and you can currently see another Richards painting, February, 1887, in A Nation of Artists.

When you get back from your beach day, come see us! 🔗 pafa.org
🖼️ William Trost Richards (1833-1905), The Beach at Tenby, Wales, ca. 1885. Oil on canvas, 35 1/16 x 26 3/16 in. (89.1 x 66.5 cm.). Gift of Dr. Bernard J. Ronis, 1979.14.

08/29/2026

Seeing this? Take it as a sign to visit PAFA’s Museum Store.

Open Thursday-Monday, 10-5

PAFA Members get 20% off purchases.

Featuring just a few of the artists and products you can discover in the PAFA Museum Store.

Meet Tom Coleman, who designed the woodwork in the entrance to PAFA's historic landmark building, the iconic Furness Bui...
08/27/2026

Meet Tom Coleman, who designed the woodwork in the entrance to PAFA's historic landmark building, the iconic Furness Building, drawing inspiration from the it's architectural character. As a design draftsman working under architect Hy Myers, who led the renovation and, in Tom's words, gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he never forgot, Tom created the designs during the renovation leading up to the building's 1976 centennial. His designs were then brought to life by master craftsmen.

Tom completed the project just before earning his architecture license in New Jersey in 1976. According to him, the opportunity to contribute to a building as extraordinary as PAFA was such a meaningful experience that he later viewed it as the pinnacle of his career and believed he might never have the chance to work on a project quite like it again.

Recently, Tom returned to PAFA with his family to revisit the building and see the care and preservation efforts that have continued over the decades.

We're honored to share his story and grateful for his contribution to PAFA's history.

"Women should be someone and not something." — Mary CassattSounds like a cute social media quote, right? It's not. And h...
08/26/2026

"Women should be someone and not something." — Mary Cassatt

Sounds like a cute social media quote, right? It's not. And honestly, the story behind it is even better.

Cassatt, a PAFA alumna and one of the most influential American artists of her time, wrote those words while praising Bertha Honoré Palmer, a collector, patron, and advocate for women in the arts. What Cassatt admired wasn't just Palmer's success. It was her belief that women should be recognized for what they contribute, not just where they fit in society.

More than a century later, Cassatt's legacy and advocacy still resonates. Women artists continue to shape the future of the arts through their work, teaching, and mentorship.

Interested in learning from them? Take a class with one of PAFA's Continuing Education women artist instructors this fall and learn alongside a community of artists inspired by curiosity and continuous growth.

Explore all upcoming PAFA Continuing Education offerings 🔗 https://buff.ly/5LRMU0A
📸 Mary Cassatt, Caress, 1904. Black-and-white photograph of the painting, from the Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PC0104_1904_033.
Source: Smith, Barbara Peters, "From White City to Green Acres: Bertha Palmer and the Gendering of Space in the Gilded Age" (2015). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://buff.ly/wla2GlF

08/26/2026

Art is a gift that keeps on giving and it’s especially important to ensure access is inclusive. Our partner PAFA The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a * fine * example of this. 🎨

PAFA’s After-School Program for High School Students has been offering free, college-level fine arts training for high school students for over 30 years. PAFA’s Institutional Relations Director Allison Campbell shared a particularly memorable moment that reflected this: “...seeing all four siblings from one particular family take part in the After-School Program, then each continue on to enroll at PAFA full-time, all becoming accomplished artists.

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128 N Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA
19102

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Monday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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(215) 972-7600

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