One of my favorite museums in Pittsburgh is offering free admission on Thursdays in May- allowing fans to experience the center as a place to recharge, reflect, find peace and connect with the arts. The Carnegie Museum of Art opens its doors to the public for FREE every Thursday this month from 3 to 8 p.m. Sign up in advance to get your timed ticket.

The museum also features a new experience called Date with a Docent on Thursday nights. These small, socially distant tours provide visitors with a deeper look at specific museum collections, exhibitions and architecture. What better way to explore this fantastic museum with a personal docent?? Every time I visit this museum, I get to meet the friendly staff throughout the different rooms and gain a wealth of new knowledge about the different collections on display. Date with a Docent tours are 30 minutes long and will run every Thursday at 6:00pm, 6:30pm, and 7pm EST. These tours will continue through mid-June, and visitors must RSVP in advance here. 

Here are some of the topics you can expect during a tour:

Each personalized tour focuses on one of the following topics:

• Collection Connections: Explore the thematic and formal connections between CMOA’s newest artworks, featured in the current exhibition New to the Collection, and other artworks throughout the galleries. This experience reveals how the museum’s recent contemporary acquisitions, including works by Mark Bradford, Kerry James Marshall, and Katherine Bernhardt, contribute to long-standing collection strengths in painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking while raising questions and generating ideas relevant to our everyday lives and expand the museum’s holdings in new directions.
• Creative Pittsburgh: The museum celebrates the Pittsburgh region as a hub of skilled artists and makers. Since its inception in 1895, the museum has collected works made in, about, and for Pittsburgh. Take a closer look at how the Steel City has inspired artists across generations.
• Great Spaces: Carnegie Museum of Art is an artwork in itself! This Date with a Docent explores Andrew Carnegie’s “Palace of Culture,” uncovering secrets of CMOA’s historic building while highlighting the architectural history, details, designs, and usage of the Grand Staircase, the Hall of Sculpture, and the Hall of Architecture.
• Photography: The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” inspires this Date with a Docent! This mini-tour considers the impact of documentation and experimentation in capturing the world around us through the ever-evolving medium of photography.
• Impressionism: Are you in love with light and color? Captivated by atmospheric effects and fleeting moments? Take a scenic Date with a Docent into the fields of France or have a conversation by the lily pads. Immerse yourself in CMOA’s impressive holdings of Impressionist artwork with a unique tour of Carnegie Museum of Art’s Impressionist collection.

Following the museum’s health and safety guidelines, face coverings and social distancing are required.