One for the Ages: Columbus Museum of Art / Gemüt Biergarten

History

The Columbus Museum of Art traces its roots to 1878, when it was founded as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, becoming the first art museum chartered in Ohio. A group of civic leaders established it to bring touring exhibitions and build a public collection. In 1887, it merged with the Columbus Art School (now CCAD) fostering a long partnership in arts education. Initially without a permanent home, the museum operated from temporary spaces until 1919, when art patron Francis C. Sessions deeded his Victorian mansion on East Broad Street to house the growing institution.

As collections expanded in the early 20th century, the need for a dedicated building became clear. The Sessions mansion was demolished, and a new Italian Renaissance Revival structure was erected on the same site, opening to the public in 1931. This elegant building, with its grand steps and arches, remains the museum's core today and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Key early acquisitions, like the Ferdinand Howald Collection of modernist works, helped establish its focus on American and European art.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the museum evolved significantly. It added the Ross Wing in 1974 for exhibitions and renamed itself the Columbus Museum of Art in 1978 during its centennial. A major renovation and expansion completed in 2015 introduced the Margaret M. Walter Wing and Center for Creativity, emphasizing interactive experiences. In 2018, the donation of the Pizzuti Collection and its Short North building expanded the museum's reach into contemporary art, solidifying its role as a dynamic cultural hub.

The Columbus Museum of Art boasts a strong collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century European modern art, featuring well-known masters like Claude Monet, whose Impressionist landscapes capture light and atmosphere in ways familiar to many. Visitors can also encounter works by Henri Matisse, renowned for his bold use of color, and Edgar Degas, famous for his graceful depictions of ballerinas and everyday scenes. The museum's early Cubist holdings include pieces by Pablo Picasso, offering glimpses into his revolutionary fragmented style that reshaped modern art.

On the American side, the collection highlights iconic figures such as Edward Hopper, whose evocative paintings of urban solitude and quiet American life are widely recognized, and Norman Rockwell, celebrated for his heartfelt illustrations of everyday Americana that have appeared on countless magazine covers. These accessible works by household-name artists provide an inviting entry point for those new to art museums, blending European innovation with distinctly American storytelling.

Summary

For this event, we will tour the Columbus Museum of Art, which is always free on Sundays. Afterward, we will head over to the nearby, highly-rated, and popular Gemüt Biergarten for drinks and food.

Columbus's art museum is not large, and we won't need to rush through in order to see everything. However, it's a little windy (with a long "i") and maze-like in spots, and if you've never gone through it before, it can be a little confusing at first.

Tickets and Pricing

The Museum is free on Sundays.

Parking

The short answer here is that you can park for free (in the Safe Auto lot) when you visit the Museum on weekends.

The longer answer is that the Museum has a dedicated parking lot, whose entrance and exit are on E Gay St, just north of Broad St. You can see this parking lot here on Google Maps.

This parking has normally been $7, unless you buy something either in the Museum's gift shop or café, in which case it's $5 (you have to bring your receipt to the Museum's front desk to get this discount).

However, the Museum is currently in the process of upgrading their parking lot's intercom (or some such), and until such time as this is completed, parking in this lot is free. Once this upgrade is complete, though, the charge is likely to increase from $7 to $10.

This upgrade is supposed to be done by the time we run this event, but given how these things work, I wouldn't be totally surprised if it's not complete by then. You'll know the lot is free if the gate arms to both the entrance and exit are fixed in a raised position when you arrive.

However, there's a large parking lot for Safe Auto on the other side of N Washington Ave, between Boone St and Hutton Pl. You can see this parking lot here on Google Maps.

Visitors to the Museum may always park for free in this lot on weekends.

The End of History

After completing our dissertation in Art Appreciation, we'll head over to the highly-rated Gemüt Biergarten for drinks and food. The brewery is located in Olde Towne East, and its actual address is 734 Oak St, Columbus, OH 43205.

Gemüt Biergarten has a free parking lot that isn't small but also isn't huge. Street parking, however, is always free across Columbus on Sundays and holidays, so I think we'll be okay with parking.

The bigger issue may be the weather. The brewery has a good-sized outdoor patio that is covered and heated in the winter. However, that doesn't mean this patio will be warm.

The inside of the brewery is "okay-sized," but again, the brewery is popular and by the time we get there, we may have no choice but to sit outside. If it's cold, I can and will ask them to fire up some of their additional outdoor heaters, which I think should be enough, but please bring something to keep you warm just in case we end up outside.

Finally, while food at the Biergarten can be a little overpriced, in my experience it is excellent, and you are likely to enjoy whatever you get. We should be there by 1:00 if you can't make the Museum and just want to meet us for drinks.