With its striking architecture and sweeping views of the campus and nearby gorges, the I. M. Pei-designed Johnson Museum of Art not only houses beauty, it creates some of its own.

On summer evenings, the building's walls serve as a movie screen, bringing audiences to the lawn below. Sculptures on the grounds extend the museum's modern art collection beyond the building's walls.

The museum's collections include Asian, American, European, African, Pre-Columbian, and Oceanic artifacts and works of art.

Art history and fine arts students come here to study the efforts of earlier artisans. In addition, the museum hosts regular events, including jazz concerts, lectures, and exhibit openings. A spring 2003 exhibition, Keyboard Instruments for the Time of Mozart, combined a display of 18th century harpsichords with performances by music department faculty. Children participating in a program on melody and the harmony of color were accompanied through the museum's galleries with a musician who composed melodies to reflect the artwork.