history

The Bass Museum was founded in 1963 through the donation of a private collection of Renaissance and Baroque works of art to the City of Miami Beach by John and Johanna Bass. The founding collection consisted of 500 works, primarily European Old Master paintings, important textiles and religious sculptures. Today, the museum houses over 3,000 works including: European painting and sculpture from the 15th century to present; Seventh to 20th-century textiles, tapestries and ecclesiastical vestments and artifacts; 20th and 21st-century North American, Latin American, Asian and Caribbean art; Photographs, prints and drawings; and modern and contemporary architecture and design with emphasis on the pre and postwar design history of Miami Beach.