Founded in 1952, the Frye is Seattle’s only free art museum, bringing together art and new ideas within a stunning Olson Sundberg Kundig-designed building in historic First Hill.
Mission
The Frye Art Museum connects Seattle with the art and artists of our time. We collect, exhibit, program, and build community around a wide range of modern and contemporary art, with a special focus on amplifying the voices of living artists.
Admission to the Frye is always free.
Vision
Inspired by the history of our namesakes, the spirit of their salon, and the global city they called home, the Frye Art Museum of today is where Seattle:
Meets Artists
Encounters New Ideas
Experiments With Tradition
Indulges the Senses
Learns Through Experience
Gathers in Community
Feels Cherished
History
While living in a growing Seattle at the turn of the last century, Charles and Emma Frye built a collection of paintings by American and European artists of their time. The collection, which showcases allegorical imagery, natural grandeur, evocative portraiture, scenes of everyday life, and more, connected the Fryes’ modest beginnings as the children of German immigrant farmers to their later years as civic-minded entrepreneurs in the emerging metropolis of Seattle.
In a gallery attached to the couple’s First Hill home, the collection was presented “salon style,” with paintings hanging floor to ceiling to make for unique connections and interpretations of diverse subjects. Guests—ranging from members of the public to socialites and touring cultural figures to factory workers—visited the Fryes’ salon to see the collection, engage in lively conversations with artists and intellectuals, experience musical performances, and enjoy each other’s company.
In their will and testament, the Fryes gifted their collection and estate to the people of Seattle in the form of a free art museum: The Frye Art Museum subsequently opened in 1952 a few blocks from the site of the couple’s home and gallery.
The Frye of today takes inspiration from its founding namesakes, the salon as a cultural crossroads, and our legacy as Seattle’s free art museum. We embrace our role as place to gather. We celebrate creative expression and exchange. We welcome all people to commune with the art and artists of our time.
The Charles and Emma Frye Free Public Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation, organized as a charitable non-profit corporation in Washington State. Frye Art Museum tax ID # 91-0659435