Asingle-artist museum features the life and work of one artist and can be a private or public entity. It can be established during the artist's lifetime or after the artist's death.[1]
Home and studio single artist museums expand on the historic tradition of preserving European artist's studios.[2] TheFondation Monet Giverny inFrance, whereMonet lived and worked from 1883 until his death in 1926, maintains and shares with the public his famous gardens, home, studio and some of his masterpieces. Home and studio single artist museums "can take on the character of a pilgrimage site, whether that's due to the intense focus of its collections or to circumstances that grant an artist's ephemera the status of relics."[3]
The Frida Kahlo Museum, whereFrido Kahlo was born, and lived and worked, was inaugurated as a single artist museum in 1958 and displays artwork by Kahlo as well as documents, books and more. It "exhibits the ambience that inspired Frida for her creation, as well as her personal belongings."[4]
In 2021, theCity of Oslo, whereEdvard Munch lived and worked, opened a purpose-built museum on the waterfront dedicated to the creator of the infamous paintingThe Scream. It was a hundred years afterEdvard Munch bequeathed his works to Oslo and initiated discussions about a future museum,[5] that the architectural firmEstudio Herreros designedMUNCH inBjorvika. At 26,313 meters (more than 280,000 square feet) the new MUNCH is one of the world's largest museums devoted to a single artist.[6]
There are several museums dedicated to the 20th century artistSalvador Dalí. TheSalvador Dalí Museum that opened in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2011, was designed by architectYang Weymouth. It features more than 2400 works collected by A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse and others, as well as gardens, and a center for avant-garde research.[7]