Through an active program of research and exhibitions, the museum strives to advance knowledge and stimulate appreciation of art by engaging visitors aesthetically, visually, and intellectually.
Our galleries feature specialized collections of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, European masterpieces on view in the historic Music Room, and a rotating program of Special Exhibitions. Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss initiated these collections in the first half of the twentieth century and provided the vision for future acquisitions after giving Dumbarton Oaks to Harvard University.