Chazen Museum of Art

Madison, United States

4.6

Closed now

16 reviews

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Telephone:
+1 608-263-2246
Website:
www.chazen.wisc.edu
Address:
750 University Ave, Madison, WI, 53706
Capitol
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
280 ftIntercity Buses
560 ftPark at University
600 ftPark at State
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Bussiness info

Good for Kids
Yes

Today

Today 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Madison) 01:44 Friday, 30 May 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Description

Specialties

The Chazen Museum of Art presents a significant permanent collection of art from the ancient world to modern times, as well as compelling temporary exhibitions and innovative programming. The museum, on the UW-​Madison campus, doubled in size when its expansion opened in October 2011.

History

Established in 1970.

The museum opened in 1970 as the Elvehjem Art Center, in its current building designed by the Chicago architect Harry Weese. It became the Elvehjem Museum of Art in 1977 and was renamed the Chazen Museum of Art in 2005 in honor of a major lead gift toward expansion. The new building, designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates with Continuum Architects + Planners, opened in October 2011.

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Nearby

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432 E Campus Mall
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16 reviews of Chazen Museum of Art

No registration required
Place rating: 4
Sun Prairie, WI
This is an impressive, free museum located on the UW campus. My wife and I spent an afternoon here recently. We both commented on how big it was. For some reason, we didn’t expect it to be so big.
They had a Rothko (my favorite artist), so that brightened my day.
Place rating: 5
Madison, WI
WOW! This free museum on the UW Madison campus is such a gem. I’m kicking myself for not visiting sooner. It contains levels of art, and through April 17th the featured exhibition is of Art Department faculty’s work. This only happens once every four years, so be sure to check it out!
I was pleasantly surprised by exactly how much artwork is featured at Chazen. I felt I rushed through, and had taken about 90 minutes to go through the levels. The beautiful building offers great views of campus and downtown from the upper level windows, too!
This is a wonderful place to take visitors!
Place rating: 5
Madison, WI
This has to be one of my favorite art museums I’ve been to, and it’s certainly not my first! I love the building itself, to start! It is beautiful and elegant. The art is all very interesting and it has many different genres of art displays! It’s very fun to walk around and the fact that it’s free is also a big bonus!
Place rating: 5
Madison, WI
open to public, totally free, free guided tour on every Thursday and Sunday, free concert on first Sunday of each Month. Impressive collection including different countries and different time. Definitely worth going.
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
This is the one thing we did on our first visit to Madison, and I wish we had done something else. I can’t really remember anything of note from our visit at this museum, not that I have (or ever had) a great memory for art or art history.
What did leave a favorable impression (sadly unrelated to the art) was when my girlfriend, having left her cell phone in the ladies room, had her phone returned to her in person just as we sat down in a gallery and she realized she didn’t have it anymore. I won’t spend time thinking on how they tracked us down, but it was very kind of them to go that far to return it to her straight away.
I also liked that it was free. I like free things. It wasn’t a memorable experience, but it was an adventure with my girlfriend, and we’ll simply find something else to do the next time we’re in town.
Place rating: 5
Madison, WI
I casually strolled in to Chazen expecting a bunch of student art, but was blown away by what I found instead. Chazen has a beautiful collection of breathtaking permanent exhibits, and their current temporary print exhibit knocked my socks off. Lautrec posters and Hokusai prints all to myself!
The curators here are clearly at the top of their trade and make the State Street Museum of Contemporary Art look like a bad joke in comparison. Pound for pound, this is probably the most interesting art museum in all of Wisconsin. How it only has 10 reviews right now is beyond me. If you’re in Madison near campus, you must stop in Chazen. And it’s FREE.
Here’s a big tip, there is free parking on many campus lots after 4:30. Here is the current list that this applies to: Lots 4, 16, 19, 26, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 82, 86, 94 and all Moped stalls
Place rating: 5
Fairfax, VA
This museum has a surprising large collection. I enjoyed my visit and recommend the museum to all who visit Madison.
Place rating: 5
Wilmette, IL
This was one of our favorite stops during a two day stay in Madison. Beautiful architecture and impressive collection of works for a campus museum. Definitely worth a visit, especially knowing that admission is free!
Place rating: 5
Milwaukee, WI
Great deal (it’s free!) and quite the collection. Loved spending my lazy afternoons here as a student and young professional.
Place rating: 3
Madison, WI
This museum has two personalities. The vision of the pre 21st century collection is full of variety. It includes paintings of great variety; domestic scenes, aristocrat portraiture, ancient art, secular, Christian, many centuries, artists from around the world. The contemporary collection, one I look forward to in museums, is almost singular in its vision. Words containing the thought of beautiful or positive would not be applicable to the vision in this half of the museum with a few exceptions. The vision here is fairly uniform and lacking in variety. My 19 year old son starting laughing after awhile at the predictable bleakness, darkness and, frankly, ugliness in the modern galleries. Even for lovers of modern art, I suggest you begin in the other galleries where you will have a rich experience.
Place rating: 4
Milwaukee, WI
This sterling little art museum is quite big for a college art museum. The building itself is aesthetically interesting and architecturally attractive. The collection is remarkably varied, balanced, and inclusive. I recommend a visit for absolutely any visitor to Madison, but it’s an especially good place to teach older children about art, and how to behave in public. Although there’s no admission charge, it seems wrong to enjoy this gem without making some sort of donation, so I always do. If you’re coming to Madison for the MMoCA, allow an extra hour or two to add the Chazen. If you’re coming to campus for any reason, add a visit here. Like at a lot of art museums, many of the guards are pleasantly over-​qualified and quite informative.
Place rating: 4
Salt Lake City, UT
The best art collection in the state. Surprisingly robust for the university level.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Another free place to hang out in Madison? This city is awesome!
With two buildings full of some interesting pieces, it’s an easy way to spend a morning.
Just maybe keep away from noisy teens.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I was extremely impressed with the permanent collections. The building itself is really nice, and, in a good and bad way, easy to get lost in among the art! The ever-​present guards are quite helpful. I liked the exhibit that shows how lost wax casting is done. I would definitely recommend this as a great place to go in Madison — and it’s free, so you really can’t lose.
Place rating: 5
Madison, WI
Just got a family membership with 50% discount through Goupon. Deal!
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Yet another cultural staple of Madison that has gone review-​less until now. The Chazen has NO admission fee and, as museums tend to do, rotates it’s exhibits fairly often and also has a pretty nice collection of it’s own (especially the Tandem Press archive) as well as a pretty keen gift shop. I think my favorite exhibit so far has been the Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School from the beginning of last year but I’m really looking forward to what is coming on May 2nd with their exhibit titled Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix, 1963 – 1990 which I’m sure will be excellent and will feature some great work including the likes of R. Crumb, Charles Burns, Kim Deitch, Will Eisner and Harvey Pekar. Did I mention it’s free?