The Toledo Museum of Art has a somewhat atypical history, in terms of encyclopedic museums of its ilk. “The museum,” director Adam M. Levine explains, “was founded in 1901 with money and not a collection. The most interesting feature of our acquisitions is that they are almost all funded from the endowment rather than as gifts.” This, Levine feels, enables curators to drive the acquisitions process.
“Because the resources are owned by the museum, there is greater stakeholder alignment. The only question is, does it serve our acquisition strategy? There isn’t really a donor relations component to the calculus. Donors can be hugely advantageous, of course, but it does introduce another variable. We’re able to be a little more focused on our collecting strategy.”
That strategy involves “collecting superlative things from around the world and across time” and will be on full view when the museum completes a large-scale chronological reinstallation in 2027, a process which began last year.
In 2025, the Toledo Museum acquired more than 200 artworks, many of which are already, or will soon be, on view. The acquisitions span centuries, and includes paintings by Richard Diebenkorn and Milton Avery; sculptures by Joan Miró and Chakaia Booker; and prints by Rose B. Simpson and Kara Walker.
Below, Levine talks through some of the key works entering the collection and sheds light on how they will factor into the reinstallation.
