Seattle Art Museum
Photo: Photo by Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Seattle Art Museum (SAM) offers diverse art collections and exhibitions at its main downtown location, Seattle Asian Art Museum in Capitol Hill, and Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront.
Planning your visit
SAM operates across three sites on one ticketing structure, and they are genuinely different from one another.
The downtown museum holds the main collection, with strong African, Native American and Northwest Coast holdings, European and American painting, and contemporary work. Jonathan Borofsky's Hammering Man, a 14-metre kinetic sculpture, stands outside.
The Seattle Asian Art Museum occupies a 1933 Art Deco building in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, reopened after renovation in 2020, holding the Asian collections that were the museum's founding strength.
The Olympic Sculpture Park is free, open all hours, and runs down a reclaimed industrial waterfront site to Puget Sound with Richard Serra, Alexander Calder and Louise Bourgeois works against a view of the Olympic Mountains.
Allow two hours downtown, more for all three. The main booking is an admission ticket. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Seattle Art Museum?
Seattle Art Museum is in Seattle, United States. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Seattle Art Museum?
Allow two hours downtown, more for all three. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Seattle Art Museum in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.
