Completed in 1959, the Murphy Room was named for Ima Hogg’s friend and fellow collector, Katharine Prentis Murphy, who closely advised on creating the room—the first museum interior at Bayou Bend.

The painted, black-and-white checkerboard floor was inspired by the ones seen in late-17th-century Boston portraits. The art on view in this room includes the oldest objects in the Bayou Bend Collection, from the Late Renaissance (1620–90) and Early Baroque (1690–1730) periods.