The collection forms a comprehensive survey of art history and is a focal point for public programming. Although the collections are richest in works of the Western tradition, there are significant holdings of outstanding works of Asian, African, Oceanic, and Native American art. Four areas of the collection are especially strong:

1. Renaissance and baroque painting and sculpture include works by Giovanni di Paolo, Fra Angelico, Antico, Rogier van der Weyden, Sebastiano del Piombo, Claude, Preti, Chardin, Gainsborough, and Reynolds.

2. Nineteenth-century art is represented with works by Goya, Thorvaldsen, Delacroix, Corot, Manet, Monet, Rodin, Cézanne, Degas, Cassatt, Renoir, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Seurat. American nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art includes masterpieces by Church, Sargent, Eakins, Prendergast, Tanner, Bellows, and Saint-Gaudens, as well as 43 works by Remington.

3. Twentieth-century art includes all major movements illustrated through works by Matisse, Picasso, Léger, Modigliani, Brancusi, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Klee, O' Keeffe, Pollock, Kline, Oldenburg, Rothko, Johns, Guston, Rothenburg, Nevelson, Bourgeois, and Baselitz.

4. Photography comprises over 10,000 works that feature extensive collections of Brassaï, Heartfield, Moholy-Nagy, Sudek, and Frank; over 900 contemporary photographs donated by Allan Chasanoff; and large-format mixed media works by contemporary artists, including Baldessari, Piper, and Boltanski. The contemporary Mexican photography collection is one of the two largest in the United States. The museum also owns one of the largest collections of photographs by African Americans outside of museums dedicated to African-American art.

In addition, nearly 6,000 prints and drawings include works from Dürer and Rembrandt, through Pollock and Johns. Decorative arts at the museum include fine examples of eighteenth-century European porcelain; seventeenth- and eighteenth- century Engli

The mission of the Education Department is to offer programs, tours, resources, and materials that teach and engage adults, children, educators, and students in the world of art. The goal is to create experiences that embrace the importance of art and the museum; to position art and the museum as a meaningful part of a well-rounded life; and to work with partners who support the community through shared values and interests.

The Kinder Foundation Education Center (KFEC) serves, together with the museum's Hirsch Library, as the public's main source of information about the MFAH art collections. Located on the lower level of the Law Building and open whenever the museum is open, the KFEC is a support center for schools and universities, and it houses exhibition space for student art. Resources are available in a variety of formats and disciplines; including DVDs, curriculum kits, books, study guides, poster sets, and collection-based interpretive materials produced by the KFEC'free of charge through the lending library for educators. These materials enhance classroom curriculum in all subjects and bring the world of art to students who often cannot visit a museum. Educators who are unable to come by the KFEC in person may order materials online.

Educators can also take advantage of Learning Through Art at the MFAH, which connects the museum?s collections of world art into the classroom curriculum for art, language arts, math, science, and social studies. The MFAH offers workshops on the LTA curriculum throughout the year. Registration is $25 for MFAH Members and $30 for nonmembers. Workshops based on the curriculum are conducted at the museum, schools, and district facilities. These workshops may be specially designed to suit the needs and interests of the group and can be tailored based on subject area, goals, and grade levels.

The museum annually produces approximately three in-house exhibition catalogues. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: A Permanent Legacy and The Collection of John A. and Audrey Jones Beck feature specific areas of the collection. Three other permanent collection catalogues, written for a broad audience, are now in preparation. The museum also produces a bimonthly member's magazine and a film calendar.