Clark Art Institute

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

The original 1955 marble building designed by Daniel Deverell Perry.
Location within Massachusetts
Established	1955
Location	225 South St, Williamstown, MA 01267
Type	Art Museum and Research Institute
Accreditation	American Alliance of Museums
Founder	Robert Sterling Clark and Francine Clark
Architect	Daniel Deverell Perry, Tadao Ando, Annabelle Selldorf
Website	clarkart.edu

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as "the Clark," is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century. The Clark, along with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), forms a trio of art museums in the Berkshires. The institute also serves as a center for research and higher learning. It is home to various research and academic programs, which include the Fellowship Program and the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

"The Clark" was created by entrepreneur, soldier, explorer, and prominent art collector Robert Sterling Clark, and his wife, Francine. After numerous adventures in the Far East, Sterling settled in Paris in 1911 and used a considerable fortune inherited from his grandfather (a principal in the Singer Sewing Machine Company) to begin amassing a private art collection. Francine joined him in collecting works of art after their marriage in 1919.

The Clarks kept their collection largely private, rarely lending out any works. With the onset of the Cold War and rapid nuclear armament, they became increasingly worried about the safety of their artworks. They wanted to protect their collection from a possible attack on New York City, where they lived and where the expected heir of their collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was located. As such, the Clarks began looking at sites in rural New York and Massachusetts with the intention of founding a museum for their art.