Art Museums In Texas

Head to Dallas, which has the country's largest contiguous urban arts area, to get a head start on Texas' art scene. The Arts District was established in the 1970s when the city chose to consolidate its arts and cultural offerings into a single district. When the Dallas Museum of Art opened in 1984, it was the district's first entity. It is famed for its collections, which span the centuries and include works by painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Edgar Degas. The Crow Collection of Asian Art also has some lovely Chinese jade pieces, which is another another example of how Texas may surprise you with unexpected gems.

“Dallas is home to the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation.”

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in Dallas' adjacent city, houses one of the country's largest contemporary art collections. The museum focuses on postwar art, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol on display. The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and Leonard's Department Store Museum are all must-sees.

Along the River Wander's Museum Reach, located at the San Antonio Museum of Art, you can walk through San Antonio's artistic offerings. With an eclectic mix of art from the Americas and Europe, this museum, housed in a historic brewery, brings San Antonio's rich legacy to life. Their permanent collection of Latin American art spans the centuries and includes both ancient and contemporary pieces. The McNay Art Museum, Texas' first museum dedicated to modern art, is located in San Antonio and houses works by Pablo Picasso and Georgia O'Keeffe, among others.

“Just up the road from San Antonio, Austin is never at a loss for ways to express its creative spirit.”

Don't forget about Austin, Texas' capital. Austin, just north of San Antonio, is never short on ways to show its creative energy. If the local graffiti culture doesn't excite you, visit The Contemporary Austin, Mexic-Arte Museum, and other area galleries to see exhibitions by artists from the region and throughout the country. Classical sculptures, modern and contemporary American and Latin American art, and the nation's biggest university-owned and exhibited collection are all housed at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Looking for art in the wild west? The El Paso Museum of Art contains about 6,000 works in its collection. This encompasses American art from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, as well as European paintings and sculpture from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The El Paso Museum of Archaeology and old Spanish missions are also worth visiting. Since Donald Judd picked the area to live and work in, the small hamlet of Marfa in West Texas has long been a destination for minimalist art. The Chinati Foundation and various modern art pieces continue to build on his artistic legacy today.

Port Arthur, which boasts the Texas Painters Museum, which has artists from the Golden Triangle and beyond, is another Texas town brimming with art. The Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas (near north of Port Arthur), houses some of the finest examples of 19th and 20th-century Western art.