Home Industries Hospitality & Tourism R.I.’s newest attraction: Westerly Museum of American Impressionism opens

R.I.’s newest attraction: Westerly Museum of American Impressionism opens

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PBN Staff

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10/09/2025

THE WESTERLY Museum of American Impressionism, founded by Westerly High School graduates and philanthropists Dr. Thomas P. and Cynthia D. Sculco officially opened to the public on Watch Hill Road on Thursday. / WARREN JAGGER PHOTOGRAPHY

WESTERLY – A new museum opened Thursday that will have an impression on the state art’s scene. The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism, founded by Westerly High School graduates and philanthropists Dr. Thomas P. and Cynthia D. Sculco, officially opened to the public on Watch Hill Road. The museum will exhibit more than 150 paintings

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WESTERLY – A new museum opened Thursday that will have an impression on the state art’s scene. The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism, founded by Westerly High School graduates and philanthropists Dr. Thomas P. and Cynthia D. Sculco, officially opened to the public on Watch Hill Road. The museum will exhibit more than 150 paintings from a collection of roughly 300 American impressionist paintings accumulated over the past 40 years by the Sculcos and will house 11 curated galleries featuring the works of lesser-known and renowned artists. “Our intent with this museum has been to create a cultural resource for residents and visitors to enjoy, now and for coming generations,” said Sculco. “We also wanted to help visitors better understand the important role that New England and East Coast artists played in the American impressionism movement, both those who are well known and artists we feel are worthy of greater recognition. We believe this is the only museum in the country whose collection is dedicated entirely to American impressionism.” The 20,000-square-foot museum is situated on a peninsula overlooking the Pawcatuck River. It is designed for the exhibition, study and preservation of American impressionist art from the 1880s to the 1920s. Exhibited artists include Walter Griffin, Louise Upton Brumback, Charles H. Woodbury, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Lilla Cabot Perry, Jane Peterson and Edmund C. Tarbell. The Sculcos acquired the parcel for the museum in 2021 and commissioned Essex, Conn.-based Centerbrook Architects & Planners to design and build the museum. The building’s design features nautical blue siding and gray metal roofs that blend into a natural landscape of meadow grasses and wildflowers. Skylights allow natural light into the galleries. Framed views of the land and water outside the museum were incorporated in the design to complement the impressionist works on the walls. The interior galleries accommodate the museum’s permanent and visiting collections. Three wings extend from a lobby and a museum shop. An event space at the end of one gallery opens to a deck facing the river, while a learning center occupies the end of a second wing. The third wing is devoted to offices and patron services. The Sculcos live in New York, where Thomas Sculcos is a hip and knee replacement surgeon. He is surgeon-in-chief emeritus at the Hospital for Special Surgery, professor of orthopedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, the medical school for Cornell University, and founder of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Complex Joint Reconstruction Center. Cynthia Sculcos is an adjunct associate professor of nursing at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing and has a Doctor of Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the timed-entry tickets and memberships, visit: https://wmairi.org.