The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only museum in the United States devoted to the collection and exhibition of European academic art of the 19th and 20th century. The collection, located in Manhattan, New York City, originated with Lebanese writer, humanist, and philosopher Salim Moussa Achi , whose pen name was Dr. Dahesh. The core of the museum's holdings consists of Dahesh's collection of more than 2,000 academic paintings, which includes many notable Orientalist paintings.The Museum's regular exhibition space closed in 2008, leaving the museum temporarily available only online and in traveling exhibitions. In early 2012, the Museum reopened an office and gift shop in Manhattan's Hudson Square neighborhood, near SoHo. Renovations began in 2015 on the museum's new permanent home at 178 East 64th Street. According to the museum's website, the opening is anticipated in winter 2019-2020.
