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The Delaware Art Museum was originally founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts for the purpose of preserving and exhibiting the art of Wilmington-native Howard Pyle (1853-1911). Pyle filled his riveting illustrations with drama and emotion and inspired generations of illustrators and movie directors. His iconic pirate figures come alive through his use of historic and folkloric details and serve as the inspiration for pirates in popular culture to this day. The Delaware Art Museum鈥檚 collection also includes a number of works by Pyle鈥檚 students, including N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and other famous illustrators.

In 1935, the family of Wilmington textile mill owner Samuel Bancroft, Jr., bequeathed his collection of British Pre-Rapahelite art to the Delaware Art Museum. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, first gathered in London in 1848, united by a shared distrust for the Royal Academy, the sanctioned art institution of the day. Instead, they turned for inspiration to the art of the Middle Ages鈥攖he time 鈥渂efore Raphael.鈥� Their subjects were drawn primarily from literature, including the Bible, Shakespeare, and the poets of their own age. The Bancroft Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Art is the largest Pre-Raphaelite collection outside the United Kingdom.

John Sloan (1871-1951), a member of the Ashcan School, focused his paintings and prints on his favorite subject: the 鈥渄rab, shabby, happy, sad, and human life鈥� of a city and its people during the early 20th century. His images of pedestrians and public places helped define New York City in the popular imagination. Sloan was also an able landscapist and portraitist. Thanks to the generosity of Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005), the artist鈥檚 second wife and devoted widow, the Delaware Art Museum is home to the largest collection of art by Sloan, as well as the John Sloan Manuscript Collection, a treasure trove of archival materials.

The Delaware Art Museum also possesses a collection of American art from the 19th century to the present, which is highlighted by masterpieces from major masters, including Raphaelle Peale, Winslow Homer, Frederic Church, and Thomas Eakins (19th century); Marsden Hartley, Charles Burchfield, Isabel Bishop, Jacob Lawrence, and Edward Hopper (early 20th century); and Norman Lewis, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Jim Dine, and Dale Chihuly (post-World War II).