About the Henry

Mission: The Henry’s mission is to engage all people in the transformative power of contemporary art and ideas.

Vision: The Henry envisions a world where art leads everyone to discover new possibilities in themselves, others, and the world around them.

Collection: The Henry’s permanent collection includes both historical and contemporary artworks, collected since the museum’s inception in 1926. The collection now contains more than 28,000 works of art and is a significant cultural resource available to scholars, researchers, and the general public through the Eleanor Henry Reed Collection Study Center—the only facility of its kind in the region.

Values: We are actively committed to creating a more equitable world. We value collaboration across departments, across campus, and with peers and community partners. We are committed to taking risks with our programming and to a high level of accountability with our finances and operations. We believe that openness to uncertain outcomes provides a supportive place for artists, and leads to innovation and discovery.

We at the Henry Art Gallery live and work on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples, and the shared waters of all tribes and bands, named and unnamed, including Suquamish, Duwamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations. The land acknowledgment reminds us of our connections, indebtedness, and responsibilities to the peoples and the more-than-human kin where we live and work. We invite you to join us in paying respects to elders past, present, and future and to consider what paying those respects means within the work that we do as individuals and within institutional frameworks.

The Henry acknowledges the historical structures and social dynamics that have continuously oppressed communities of color, and we acknowledge our part in institutional racism.

We are actively committed to racial equity and to building a strong foundation of inclusivity and awareness in all we do. We value discourse that brings forward voices and positions that have been—and continue to be—oppressed. We do not tolerate hate speech or actions.

We recognize that we are in the process of embodying these values across our exhibitions, programs, and operations; this is our ongoing work.

Our priorities and focus are driven by four strategic goals:

Initiatives to move our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) forward are embedded within our day-to-day work—from the artists and themes we address through our exhibitions and programs and the priorities we set for diversifying our collection to how we manage our finances and operations.

The Henry was founded in 1926 as Washington State's first art museum by Seattle entrepreneur Horace C. Henry on the principle that art stimulates inquiry, fosters knowledge, and builds a healthy community. Henry donated the collection he built with his late wife Susan of 178 works of art, along with funds for construction. The Henry Art Gallery opened to the public on February 10, 1927.

From its earliest days, the Henry has been the first in the region to showcase world-renowned contemporary artists, and first in the field to champion emerging talent and premiere new works by established artists. In 1927, the Henry presented the Blue Four (German Expressionists Lyonel Feininger, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee) marking the first time that work, considered daring at the time, was exhibited west of the Mississippi. Since then, we have established and maintained relationships with numerous international artists, including Uta Barth, Ann Hamilton, Gary Hill, Maya Lin, and Kiki Smith, as well as significant and emerging artists from the Pacific Northwest.

In 1997, the museum completed a major expansion, quadrupling in size to better present and preserve the Henry Collection and to increase exhibitions and public programs. The James Turrell Skyspace Light Reign, a site-specific immersive sculpture finished in 2003, has become a destination for students, residents, and visitors to Seattle.

With a location on the UW campus, a rich and deep collection, and partnerships with over 40 departments and units of the University and 35 community organizations, the Henry is a key cultural resource and training ground in the visual arts for K–20 students, scholars, artists, and general audiences. We present exhibitions and programs that serve as a catalyst for discovery by visitors of all ages. Museum publications and online resources increase access and educational impact.

VIEW OUR ANNUAL REPORTS:

Fiscal Year 2015–16
Fiscal Year 2016–17
Fiscal Year 2017–18
Fiscal Year 2018–19
Fiscal Year 2019–20
Fiscal Year 2020–21
Fiscal Year 2021–22