Open daily, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day
- Adults: $19
- Seniors: $16
- Children ages 6-17 and active U.S. Military: $6
- All Students and Florida Teachers w/ID: $6
- Children under 5 years and Ringling Museum Members: Free
- Take I-75 exit 213
- Travel west approximately 7 miles on University Parkway.
- University Parkway becomes Ringling Plaza.
- End at 5401 Bay Shore Road.
Situated on a 66-acre estate overlooking Sarasota Bay, The Ringling Museum of Art features 21 galleries of European paintings as well as Cypriot antiquities, Asian Art, American paintings and contemporary art. Established in 1927 as the legacy of circus entrepreneur, collector of art and financier John Ringling and his wife, Mable, the facility is recognized as the official State Art Museum of Florida.
The Ringlings developed a passion for art during their extensive travels in Europe. Art dealers such as Julius Böhler advised the Ringlings in their acquisitions. The Ringlings purchased masterpieces by Rubens, van Dyck, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Velázquez, El Greco, Tiepolo, Gainsborough and Reynolds.
The museum displays European, American and Asian works of art in its permanent collection galleries, including a collection of Old Master paintings featuring examples from the Baroque period of the 17th century. Recent additions to the collection include the Koger Collection of Chinese ceramics; a combined pledge by Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt of her collection of Chinese jades, stone sculptures and bronzes to support the future Asian Galleries to be named in her honor; and various pieces of modern and contemporary art.
The museum also regularly presents temporary exhibitions from its own collections and traveling collections in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing, a 30,000-square-foot expansion completed in 2007.
In addition to the museum, the estate also boasts:
- Cà d'Zan, a splendid 30-room Venetian Gothic mansion built between 1924 and 1926 by the Ringlings.
- The Ringling Museum of the American Circus, established in 1948, documents the rich history of the circus and offers guests a glimpse at rare handbills, posters and art prints, circus paper, business records, wardrobe, performing props, as well as all types of circus equipment.
- The Historic Asolo Theater, an 18th-century European theater built in Asolo, Italy, in 1798, and relocated to Sarasota in the early 1950s by the museum's first director, A. Everett “Chick” Austin, Jr.
- Treviso, found in the Visitors' Pavilion, this restaurant serves up a blend of classic Italian and American favorites.
- The Banyan Café, located near the Circus Museum and Rose Garden, offers family-friendly counter service and a menu including hot dogs, sandwiches, chicken fingers, ice cream and beverages.