Biggs Museum of American Art
On Dover’s historic Green, regional painting, silver, furniture, illustration, and changing exhibitions make American art feel close to home.
Artwork inspired by Edward Loper Sr.
Biggs is especially rewarding if you enter through Delaware rather than through a generic survey of American art. Three floors bring Mid-Atlantic painting and decorative arts into conversation: a piece of regional silver may tell you as much about making, trade, and taste as a landscape does. Look for Peale-family portraits, Howard Pyle and Frank Schoonover illustrations, and works by Edward Loper Sr.
The museum occupies an adapted nineteenth-century county building and a later gallery wing beside Dover’s Green. Changing exhibitions can alter the route, so start with what is on view rather than an old room map. A short visit works well with the nearby Old State House: one tells stories through objects and images, the other through a preserved civic room.
- Collection emphasis
- Delaware and Mid-Atlantic art
- Building
- Former Kent County offices
- Admission
- Currently free
Quick guide
- Start with Delaware
- Find a locally made work, then compare its materials with a painting.
- Check the exhibition
- Rotating displays may change what is available on each floor.
Know before you go
- Read the object label
- The maker and material can reveal a local network of patrons and craftspeople.
- Pair image and object
- Compare a Peale portrait with a piece of furniture or silver from its era.
- Find Loper
- His color can make a familiar Delaware place look structurally new.
- Cross the Green
- Add the Old State House when you want the political setting behind the objects.
Good to know
The museum currently offers free general admission, despite older websites and listings that still show a ticket price. Confirm special-program terms separately.
Notice these
- Regional American painting
- Delaware silver and furniture
- Changing exhibitions