The Sheldon Museum of Art is an art museum in the city of Lincoln, in the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Its collection focuses on 19th- and 20th-century art. History Sheldon Art Association In 1888, The Sheldon Art Association was founded as the Haydon Art Club. It got its name in honor of the British painter, Benjamin Robert Haydon. The Haydon Art Club held an annual art exhibit and supplied art education to the university. In the early 1900s, the club underwent a reorganization and was incorporated under its new name, the Nebraska Art Association. The Sheldon Art Association is a non-profit organization that has over 500 members. Sheldon Museum of Art The Sheldon Museum of Art was initially known as the University of Nebraska Art Galleries, and was then formerly known as Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. The museum's name was changed in 2008, along with the support organization that supports the museum, which is now known as the Sheldon Art Association, formerly the Nebraska Art Association. Building The museum exhibited its collection in locations around the university, including Morrill Hall, until a dedicated building was completed in 1963. Located at the junction of 12th and R Streets, on the city campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Sheldon was designed by architect Philip Johnson and is a U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The building's other distinctive features are a great hall with golden disks suspended from the ceiling, a spacious Great Hall, and a bridge-type grand staircase. In 1959, Phillip Johnson proclaimed the Sheldon as the best building he had ever designed. As part of Johnson's artist statement, he said of the Sheldon “[T]oday the museum building stands as a community like the church courthouse of the last century. The architect must therefore create, inside and out, a symbolic structure which the community can refer to with some pride … The symbolic function of the Sheldon Gallery is fulfilled, I feel, not only the ‘classical’ exterior of travertine but mainly by the great hall which orients the visitor, as well as elevating his spirits.” The museum was designed with the idea of avoiding what he referred to as “museum fatigue”. This is the idea that visitors to museums often feel alienated from the museum environment. This is a result of the freedom which he was given to him by the art association and its first