Exhibitions and programs are the public face of the museum, but much of our day-to-day operations take place outside of the exhibition galleries. In the quiet spaces of our historic building, our staff preserves, interprets, and researches a growing collection of modern and contemporary art that forms the cornerstone of our mission.

The PMA’s collection is composed of over 700 objects with a primary focus on 20th and 21st century works on paper. As a museum in the public trust, this collection is an important community resource for research, scholarship, and artistic inspiration. Though the majority of our collection is in storage, it is an evolving entity requiring preventative maintenance and conservation. The collection continues to grow through gifts, extended loans, and strategic purchases that allow us to tell a more complete story of the history of art.

As part of our long-term planning, the PMA has committed to making its collection more accessible through education and exhibition initiatives. Though this exhibition represents a small fraction of our holdings, it is a step towards bringing these works out of storage and creating open engagement between the community and our collection. The last gallery of the exhibition gives a further peek into the behind-the-scenes work of the museum through an exploration of the technical work of caring for the collection and designing exhibitions.