The Grohmann Museum - Man at Work Collection

The Grohmann Museum in Milwaukee

Milwaukee has had many nicknames - The Beer Capital, Cream City, and America's Toolbox. Each of these represents the hard working blue collar personality of this rust belt city. More than by good fortune - this city was built on hard work. Milwaukee School of Engineering's Grohmann Museum celebrates the art of work and is "home to the world’s most comprehensive art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work".

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Sausage Making - David Teniers II

Art tourism in Milwaukee has become a thing since the opening of the Calatrava addition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The smaller gallery at the Grohmann Museum near Cathedral Square is often overlooked. Though it should not; the Grohmann is among the most compelling collections you will ever visit.

More than 1000 paintings and sculptures are on display, spread across 3 floors of galleries and a rooftop sculpture garden at The Grohmann Museum. All of them are grouped in dedicated vignettes of industry and enterprise.

The Grohmann presents a selection of artworks that may be more appealing to the casual art observer. It is a different experience. The Milwaukee Art Museum has allocated the majority of it's floor space to spotlighting modern and contemporary masters. At times the parade of abstractions and minimalism at MAM can feel distant from humanity; inaccessible to all but students of art history.

The collection at the Grohmann speaks directly to any human who has ever engaged in any kind of work. These are the commonplace stories of regular people; moments of daily life captured, frozen, and elevated to heroism. All of the works on display at the Grohmann present richly detailed narratives and social commentary on the history of human enterprise. Each demands close inspection.

Nameplates recede in importance at the Grohmann. The narratives presented in oil paintings immediately engage the senses, unearth memories, and spark conversation and storytelling. From the intriguing depictions of medical experimentation to the glowing fires of steel forges - there is a story in a painting at the Grohmann that will speak either directly to you or evoke the stories of your ancestry.

Like no other gallery, the collection at the Grohmann Museum speaks to us: the accountants, lawyers, dabblers, sailors, glassblowers, craftsman, seamstresses, politicians, boilermakers, engineers, and artists we are.

Two Men Pulling Rope - Henri Louis Levasseur - 1934

Map and Information

FEES: General admission: $5.00 Students / Seniors: $3.00 Children under 12: Free MSOE students (with ID), alumni, faculty and staff: Free
HOURS: Mon.-Fri.: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday: Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday: 1 to 4 p.m.

Click Map Image to load the full interactive map.

Address for your GPS: Grohmann Museum 1000 N Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202
| coordinates: 43.043531, -87.908355 |