Houston Museum of Art

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) is the oldest art museum in the state of Texas. The establishment of the museum is testament to the determination of the people of Houston to transform their growing city into a rich cultural hub. The first museum building was opened to the public in 1924, with the collections supported and dedicated by trustees and staff that defined the museum's function as bringing "art into the world." everyday life” of all Houstonians.

Houston-based architect William Ward Watkin designed the building as a shrine to the art in the neoclassical style popular at the time. Watkin collaborated with director James Chillman who is a professor at nearby Rice University. Watkin envisioned a purely exhibition space, but Chillman's perspective brings practicality to Watkin's design conventions by ensuring that additional wings can accommodate administrative offices, warehouses, and storage. storage and meeting rooms. The additional wings were completed in 1926, at which time Chillman presented American paintings from the Grand Central art gallery in New York in a dramatic performance. With this important exhibition, MFAH establishes itself as a cultural gem in the young city of Houston.

Today, the MFAH consists of two buildings, the Caroline Wiess Law and Audrey Jones Beck buildings, which house its main collections and temporary exhibitions. The museum also houses two decorative arts museums, a sculpture garden, a conservation facility, archives and archives with the Glassell Junior School of the Arts.

Prior to the opening of the permanent museum building in 1924, George M. Dickson bequeathed his legacy to an important collection of early American and European oil paintings. In the 1930s, Houstonian Annette Finnigan began donating antiquities, and Texas philanthropist Ima Hogg gifted her with a collection of avant-garde European prints and paintings. Over the next two decades, gifts from prominent Houston families and financiers focused on European art from the 15th to 20th centuries, contemporary painting and sculpture, and African and European art. Oceans and Colombian coins have enriched the museum's collection. Later, from 1970 to 1989, the museum's collection doubled by continuously organized art donations.

With more than 64,000 works of art with multiple schools representing different periods of development not only in the Americas and Europe but also in Asia, the Houston Art Museum has been ranked as the National Museum of Art. family.

Some outstanding collections of the Art Museum cannot fail to mention such as:

Decorative Arts, Crafts & Design : A collection of decorative arts, crafts and design that focuses on works of exceptional craftsmanship and originality made from the 17th to the 21st centuries, is particularly known for late 19th-century American works by Herter Brothers and Louis Comfort Tiffany as well as objects designed by the architect.

European Art : The European art collection includes important paintings and sculptures from the 13th to early 20th centuries. The extensive galleries display works and sculptures. from the late Middle Ages, panel and bronze paintings from the Renaissance, paintings and sculptures from the 17th-19th centuries.

Antiquities : The collection includes more than 450 works of art and masterpieces, such as an ancient Greek bronze head, an Egyptian sarcophagus, and a Roman statue of Dionysus.

Latin American Art : The museum has built a core collection of modern and contemporary art with more than 550 representative works across all media, from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. , as well as by Latino artists in the United States. These objects complement existing material including works on paper, decorative arts, painting and sculpture, some of which have been included in the Museum as early as the 1930s. Total works Latin American and Latino art at the Houston Art Museum surpasses 2,000.

When visiting the museum, visitors should check which collections are on display so that they can actively select the collection that suits their individual tastes.

Website : www.mfah.org

Phone : +1 713-639-7300

Hours of Operation :

Monday - Tuesday: closed

Wednesday: 11:00 - 17:00

Thursday: 11:00 - 21:00

Friday - Saturday: 11:00 - 18:00

Sunday: 12:30 - 18:00

Ticket price : 18$ - 23$

Free on Thursdays