What a beautiful place to experience some truly amazing art pieces. There was an exhibit on book art (graphic design love-fest) that I really enjoyed. The museum itself is a visual treat and add some beautiful pieces (check out my pics) and you have a must visit experience when youre in Madison. Oh, and its free so make sure to schedule a visit! The third floor was closed when I visited but I could look up and see some huge canvases. Maybe next time itll be fully functional.

Love. This. Space. An important institution that, even despite the pandemic, seems to work tirelessly to render the value of the arts even more accessable to campus and community members alike. Also, the Chazen is my #1 free date idea. If a date doesnt appreciate one of the worlds best FREE art museums, they dont deserve your attention.

One of my favorite art museums. An eclectic collection that has something for everyone.And its huge! Every time we think weve seen everything, we walk in to a new and unexplored room.A really great way to spend an afternoon in Madison.

I came to this museum on a rain Sunday morning and it was awesome. The museum was well laid out and easy to wander through. There is a huge range of art that covers different time periods, medians, and styles. I enjoyed this museum from beginning to end. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes art or wants to see some pretty things.

Color me impressed, Chazen! I could not believe how much quality, beautiful art was at this museum. As I walked through the museum I told my friend, If they have a Picasso Ill be amazed. Maybe 50 ft later - Picasso. There was no cost for entry and they provided free coat/bag storage. I will definitely go back and I strongly suggest all art lovers check it out as well!

A truly world-class art museum in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A wide array of incredible and diverse work from local, national and international artists. Must-see for people who appreciate art and even for those who dont. Be sure to carve out a good amount of time, because this is a surprisingly large museum, taking up two separate buildings. The Chazen regularly hosts guest artists and has community events throughout the year. Highly recommend!

Theys was showing some cool stuff but they didnt have the upstairses opens so kinda sus. When they opening back up the other stuff?

Wonderful place to visit, and you can almost spend half a day here without being bored. Also it is free entrance so you can save your budget and enjoy fine arts.

Always love coming here. I wish there were more rotating collections though. Beautiful building.

Front Desk staff person was very polite and helpful.Security guard was annoying.(After I took out my map of Chazen,he came over to ask if I need help but he was after following me around.)Anyway, I enjoyed the Africian and Asian gallery the best.

I have been to the Chazen many times to see the free art. They have great rotating collections and visiting artists throughout the year. They do give tours for groups as well. I have been on one of their tours. I highly suggest that you take a tour. The guides are very knowledgeable and will ask if the group wants to see anything in particular. I think the tour took about an hour from start to finish. One of the guys on my tour asked a lot of questions and the tour guide was able to keep up with him even! I was super impressed. The museum is always very clean and well organized. The variety of art in the museum is very diverse. There seems to be a little bit of everything for everyone. Its a great place to take the kids also.

Beautiful and peaceful place for great exhibits

This establishment houses a beautiful collection of art. All are welcome, admission is free. Its worth going through the exhibits with a tour guide. They have an incredible wealth of information, and are eager to share it with their guests. I very much enjoyed the collections of Aboriginal art, catch the collection before it heads to Seattle! Highly recommended, would love to come back.

This place is perfect sized to spend some time and see some great art. The shows travel, so all pictured is not always there. The museum employees are all amazingly polite. There are lockers for coats and things that are very reasonable. Bathrooms on every floor. And was free. Really a great couple of hours to see everything and get to go do something else. What an amazing treasure

This museum blew me away! I had no expectations going in and was floored by how much variety they have and how large it is. I thought I was nearly done with my visit and then discovered an entire the other half I hadnt explored yet! I was very impressed with their current exhibitions but also enjoyed their permanent collection as well. They have quite a few Calders including more sketches and paintings than I have ever seen elsewhere. They have a great collection of local and Midwest art as well as collections from all over the world. I was particularly impressed with their African collection and shocked to see 5th century mosaics from Syria. It was great to see a Kara Walker on display as well. All this and more for free!

I have lived in Madison for several years, but only recently checked out the Chazen while showing some family around town. What a great surprise! I hadnt expected much; its a small free campus-based museum, but we actually spent a couple of hours in here. Great exhibits and a few pieces that made me stop and stare for a while. Id highly recommend.

It had good service and we did the self guided tour

Love this place and you cant beat the price. It is free and there is no way you will see it all in one day. Convenient parking for being downtown and a great place to go!

Great collection! Free visit today!

This is one of the most beautiful art shows Ive ever seen and Ive seen a handful....anyways the pictures can do it justice.

A good atmosphere, family friendly exhibits (I dont have kids, but for those who do) and, of course, incredible art exhibits! I do wish the gift shop had more of a selection, but I spent several happy hours here. Good luck finding parking though!

The exhibits and rotating galleries are always well thought-out and interesting. Its never a boring trip when you go to the Chazen! Professional staff and the museum is always extremely clean.

A wonderful place to spend a damp Wisconsin day. However, you cannot carry a backpack. The plastic exhibition which truly demonstrates the devastating impact discarded plastics have on our environment inspires me to do better. And, haunts me!!!Saw my favorites too! Calder, Miro, Vasserely, FLWright. Im still looking for Chagall. Their Calder collection spans years of artistic productivity demonstrating artistic development.Collections range from the ancient to the current. An audio tour on your smart phone like the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum offers would be fantastic!

Collection has impressive artists, more than I expected from a smaller city. Everything from Whorhol, Stella, Grant Wood, to good collection of Dutch and Flemish. Dont miss the art museum on State Street.

The museum was pretty. I give only 3 stars because a female security was following us the entire time. I feel like my family shouldnt be there.

Lots of cool art, gorgeous and clean facilities. Completely free, definitely check it out! Different styles of art throughout, something for everyone to enjoy.

Nice quiet and educative atmosphere.wonderful collection.

This is an extraordinary museum! Theyre always featuring new artists, and have an amazing permanent gallery. The building itself is very unique, allowing you to pass over to the older section of the Chazen. The old gift shop was recently converted into a coffeeshop, which is amazing too by the way.

Nice and very helpful staff. Impressed with the museums collection of all types of artwork. Big museum for being in a city smaller than New York, L. A., or Chicago. Great job Madison!

A fun place to stop. A mix of very famous artists and art professor works. Loved it!

The addition of a coffee shop to the museum was a brilliant move. It attracts students into the facility, which is always a good thing. The plastics display is really thought-provoking.

This beautiful university art gallery has no admission charge. The galleries are bright and creatively filled with an interesting mix of works. The art on display includes paintings, sculpture and ceramics from antiquity until the present time. Madison is lucky to have so many attractions that are free. This museum has a wide variety of paintings and sculptures that span hundreds of years. The museum itself is beautiful and spacious. A real must see if you are in town.

A very interesting place with great collection of arts. The place will teach you variety of things from the perspective of the artists. Paintings bring emotions and expressions that you can relate to everyday living. Work of art from the ancient times are very inspiring. The place is free and very peaceful. Most of the collections are very fragile and takes time to get to know each one of them. I say, a day tour at the museum is worth your time. For museum lovers, this place offers a lot.

An oasis near the heart of the campus quite close to the memorial union and waterfront. The museum is open and airy. There are several donated collections here and most of what i saw was from the modern era. When turning a corner into a gallery there was always a work that immediately captured my attention. A pleasing discovery and i regretted leaving after only an hour.

What an incredible museum, right on campus and free. This was our first visit but we plan to come back often!

They work really hard to make installations of contrasting pieces. Rather than just being a repository. Worth talking to the staff because they are such nice people.

Incredible museum with a staggering amount of artwork; you could spend days in here and still never see everything!

Beauty in Design and ContentI’m always amazed at the number of art galleries that are offered for free that we, locals and tourists, fail to take advantage of.Spacious and clean, the Chazen Museum of Art is a treasure tucked away in the downtown area of Madison, Wisconsin. It offers four gallery floors of various works and periods.A gorgeous exhibit titled, Floating World by Karen LaMonte is located in the Rowland Galleries(August 11-September 24, 2017). Life-sized kimonos cast in glass, ceramic, bronze and rusted iron, was a visual feast for the eyes. The pieces, posed as though bodies were in them, present a graceful history in the art of the kimono and the exploration of beauty.The remaining 20,000 pieces in its permanent collection showcases Contemporary Glass and Ceramics, European & American 19th and 20th-Century works, Asian and African to name a few. The art gallery as a whole is beautifully designed, allowing light and space to accentuate its pieces.Overall: Backpacks of any size are not allowed in the museum. Lockers are provided as well as a quarter to use them. The gift shop is located on the main level. This was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

This is a great museum! A great collection to satisfy all art connoisseurs. Nice variety of art and artifacts, beautifully displayed.

Great museum. Nice variety of art and artifacts, beautifully displayed. Wonderful volunteers and staff. A must visit!

It has got amazing collection of art works. You will find some of the greatest works from different cultures over different time period.

They are *NOT* really open at 8am. Only one of the galleries is open at that time. 80% of it is still closed for 3 more hours... Buy dont expect there to be any obvious signs telling you that. You either have to guess, find a small 1 inch tall sign, or wait 20 minutes of wandering around before a rude staff.member tells you to go away.

Very large collection of many styles of art. Great date location or just a good way to spend a couple hours

Very cool museum that is free. Staff is friendly and eager to help. Will be coming back soon.

The coffee shop here is okay, the art is good, but very unique I guess. Very nice building

So glad we stopped in! Was blown away by the Arctic photography exhibit. Enjoyed walking through the rest of the museum, too. Good place for kids to get exposure to art, as well.

What a wonderful free museum. :) Loved the exhibits. Some incredible pieces by world famous artists.

The Chazen Museum of Art is quite spectacular and truly more amazing than a visit to Starbucks. Go there for an entire week sometime. Its incredible and the art is character building and expressive in a way that is impressive.

Great museum, great experience

Interesting place for visiting...

Cool collection. Smaller museum which makes it feel more private with unique pieces.

Huge museum- amazing art to be able to see it all for FREE. Some famous artists work in there and the layout and architecture are wonderful. Definitely recommend going if you have the chance

I love art. I love it so much. This place has great pieces of art and a lot of it was home grown! I really like too that there is an area for guests to doodle on the wall and get a bit interactive

The Chazen has a great mix of different types of art. The museum has three temporary exhibits, so there is always something new to see.

Did not get the time to visit properly. There is a really nice pathway that decends down from an overpass which loops through the museum. If you want a nice detour I suggest taking it.

Lovely place with great art pieces. And totally free !

Vast amount of art to look at.

Free but please make a small donation. Some amazing exhibits.

A lovely gem, much larger than expected with rotating guest exhibits

Very good permanent collection and always excellent exhibits. Nice little coffee shop/gift shop.

Always amazing and always free (they do appreciate donations)

The art is cool but we did a tour and the tour guides dont let you choose the art you want to look at the just take you to a random exhibit and talk about it for a half and hour and we are not allowed to branch off and look at art were actually interested in

This is a great museum! Deceptively large. All sorts of periods of art. And free! Gotta go at least once if youre in the city.

This is a really nice gallery. There is a nice mix of sculptures, mixed media and paintings in a wide variety of styles. There is a little bit of everything here.

A great museum for adults and kids. Our family loves Chazen! Its small enough to walk through in a few hours (with elementary aged kids) but big enough to notice new things each time. A must-see in Madison.

A free option in Madison at University of Wisconsin. A lot of art to see during winter day! Artists from different countries and cities of USA. Sunday is a good day to visit due to the free parking options.

You can count on really thoughtful curatorial decisions on every visit to the Chazen, drawing on an excellent permanent collection and great traveling exhibitions. I always find something new and fascinating among old favorites.

Great free art museum. Friendly staff and lovely exhibits.

Great museum with a large, diverse collection. The best part is that its completely free, which makes it a great option for something to do when money is tight.

Free and fantastic! Quite a collection so stroll about, stroke your chin, and look introspective.

My husband and I had a wonderful time here. They have a great collection, free admission, informative staff, and just the right size to spend the early afternoon here.

Loved the Monroe pic and so many other of the art work. The plastic exhibit was amazing.

Confusing, disturbing, and inaccessible, yes. But also surprising, thought-provoking, impressive, and even endearing. So eclectic that there promises to be more than just something for everyone. Must see the Sanford Bigger gunshot exhibit.

Great museum. Loved the art projects that they sponsor. Great that they foster creativity!

Fantastic museum! Excellent exhibits! A very wide variety of art from many cultures, eras, and mediums. Highly recommend visiting. Keep in mind that there is no onsite parking, as it is located near State Street. Two nearby parking ramps are your best options. Theres a grocery store, coffee shop, restaurant, and retail spaces directly across the street.

The Chazen Museum of Art is an underappreciated cultural venue. With over 20, 000 works of art, it has the states second largest collection of art. On the first Sunday of every month, it offers a free classic music concert as part of its Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen series. There are works by artists like Warhol, Miro, Picasso, Gainsborough and Rothko.

Unbelievable collection of art from all disciplines. A must on your trip to Madison. Give yourself a couple hours at least because there is so much to see and experience.

Everyone should explore this museum. So much to see.

This place is a wonderful museum with great and varied collections. There are study rooms where researchers and artists can gather to look in better detail the objects and art pieces through history. There are wonderful views and the architecture is admirable.

The diversity and quantity of art in this museum was completely unexpected. Im typically not one to enjoy contemporary art, but was left pleasantly surprised. The rotating medieval exhibit was small but offered plenty of interesting pieces to look at. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese print section. With free admission, this is quite the overall experience.

Excellent museum. A great collection to satisfy all art connoisseurs.

The art is always wonderful from the installations to permanent exhibits.

Went here for a field trip with my class for college. We had some guides walk us around and show us the art and talked about the different pieces they had. No backpacks are allowed in the museum but they do offer lockers to keep your stuff safe.

Always fantastic. Be sure to check out the back areas

Its free, its huge, and the art is really well curated. We even bumped into a tour a photographer was giving about his exhibit. It was so interesting! If you havent been recently, make the trip. But give yourself a few hours to explore.

Great free venue for art plus they serve Peets Coffee

Always a nice museum to spend a couple of hours in.

An expansive collection of diverse artwork in a beautiful, well laid-out museum. Its bigger than it looks from the outside, and a serious art fan could spend hours here.Its also great for a quicker stroll through for casual art appreciators. I was with tween daughters, so once we got restless the central location was another benefit. Its a quick walk to the lake, Memorial Terrace (University of Wisconsin) and the countless shops and restaurants of State Street. And its free!What a gem for the University and for Madison!

Free museum has education collections and solid modern art collection Nice rotating exhibits keep it worthy of multiple visits

I definitely recommend going and dedicating an entire day to this incredible art museum.

This place is huge! Also free which is a huge plus

A beautifully kept museum with an impressive array of artists and rotating collections, the Chazen is an understated treasure of downtown Madison. Stepping inside from Library Mall feels like taking refuge from the frenetic city. Check out the lovely windowed alcoves for a view of University Square in quiet repose.

Great museum. Poignant exhibits.

Great museum with great work, all with fantastic and in depth descriptions of each piece. Clean facilities and friendly staff, right in bewteen of UW Madisons campus and downtown. A must visit!

Traditional and modern art, intersting exhibitions, worth visiting multiple times!

The New Building gives the museum ample square footage to display its collection as well as a spacious lobby. It seems to me that the lobby was not designed as a place for socializing. But with the Memorial Union Terraces being a mere 5-minute walk away, that is not really a problem.There is enough art to keep you busy for an hour or two. Most galleries, however, lack introductory labels (interestingly, they do exist in those smaller, connecting galleries). Moreover, many individual objects also come up with nothing more than the most basic information (e.g. time period, artist, material).There are a few sunlit nooks in the building where you could sit or lay down, and then daydream. They speak to me what this museum is about: it is rather a place to enjoy and relax yourself than one to receive an education in art history. When the weather is not good or when you want to take a break away from the hustle and bustle on the terrace, come here and you might discover an ideal destination - did I mention its free?

Nice variety of art and artifacts, beautifully displayed.

I am consistently delighted by this museum in every possible way. The quality of the permanent collection is outstanding and varied, the rotating guest exhibits are always fascinating, the facilities are gorgeous, the staff are friendly. Compared to similar art museums in other much larger cities, the Chazen is actually BETTER, and the best part is its FREE.

This is one of a number of free museums on the UW campus. It is deceptively HUGE. We expected a gallery or three. We found two big buildings! With both a traditional approach and areas with a more modern hands on and interactive approach the Chazen is worth the visit. Permanent exhibits include a variety of techniques in pleasing gallery spaces. I especially liked the glass installations on the bridge between the buildings which happened to catch the light just so when we visited. A majority of the installations could be considered modern in terms of history, but this is also very much and obviously a teaching space for the University as well.

This was a great, complete collection for a regional museum. I was amazed by the variety and by the activity from the locals. Im looking forward in coming back and really get to know the collection by heart