The Saint Louis Art Museum lends works of art from its collection to qualified institutions around the world to increase public access and foster scholarship. Loans to institutions where scholarship and research will generate an exhibition of a comprehensive nature and a useful catalog will be given first priority. The inherent risks and costs of lending will be carefully weighed against the increased public benefit and scholarly contribution of any proposed loan. Each loan request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Timeline
Loan requests must be received by the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Registration Department at least 12 months prior to the exhibition’s opening date.
Application
Please use the Saint Louis Art Museum Loan Request Form to begin your loan request. You will need to provide the following information:
- Organization name
- Exhibition title
- Venue(s) and dates
- Exhibition description
- Work(s) requested with Saint Louis Art Museum accession numbers. To find accession numbers, view our Online Collection
- Formal letter of request addressed to SLAM Director:
Min Jung Kim
The Barbara B. Taylor Director
Saint Louis Art Museum
One Fine Arts Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
- Complete facility report(s) for all requested venues
- Primary contact information
If you have any questions about the loan request process, please contact our Registration Department at loans@slam.org.
Review
Once your request and all required materials have been received by the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Registration Department, the request will be circulated internally, taking into account the following factors:
- The scholarly merits and educational potential of the overall exhibition
- The importance of requested work(s) to the exhibition
- The security and environmental controls of proposed venue(s) for requested work(s)
- The stability of the requested work(s) for travel
- The Museum’s own exhibition and scheduling needs
If your request meets the criteria for loan, it will be recommended for approval to the Museum’s Board of Commissioners’ Collections Committee, which meets four times per year. You will be notified of the official decision within two weeks of the meeting.
Fees and Costs
Once a loan request is approved, the borrower is responsible for the following fees:
- Works requested more than 12 months from opening date: $200 for the first work, $150 for each additional work
- Works requested less than 12 months from opening date: $400 for the first work, $300 for each additional work
- Cancellation after approval: $200 per object, plus any costs incurred up to the cancellation
- Conservation preparation: $200 per object
In addition to fees listed above, the borrower is responsible for the following costs:
- Glazing, framing, and mounts, as needed
- Crating and packing (may include crating site visit and/or crate disposal)
- Shipping (may include transportation to/from offsite storage)
- Courier expenses
- Insurance
Details of loan expenses will be provided with loan agreements.
Image Requests
To inquire about the necessary permissions to use images, including requests for higher quality/resolution formats, please submit a request to Digital Asset Management. Images in the public domain are also available for direct download through our Online Collection in keeping with our terms of use.