HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an
art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...
located in the
Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
of
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the
largest Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...
art museums between the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
and Chicago. It is known for its collection of American Indian art, as well as The Petrie Institute of Western American Art, which oversees the museum's Western art collection. and its other collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world. The museum's iconic Martin Building (formerly known as the North Building) was designed by famed Italian architect Gio Ponti in 1971. In 2018, the museum began a transformational $150 million renovation project to unify the campus and revitalize Ponti's original structure, including the creation of new exhibition spaces, two new dining options, and a new welcome center.


History


1893–1923

The museum's origins can be traced back to the founding of the Denver Artists Club in 1893.Harris, Neil. "Searching for Form: The Denver Art Museum in Context." ''The First Hundred Years,'' Denver Art Museum, 1996. 21–53. Print. The Club renamed itself the Denver Art Association in 1917 and opened its first galleries in the City and County building two years later. The museum opened galleries in the Chappell House in 1922. The house, located on Logan Street, was donated to the museum by Mrs. George Cranmer and Delos Chappell. In 1923, the Denver Art Association became the Denver Art Museum (DAM).


1948–1974

In 1948, the DAM purchased a building on Acoma and 14th Avenue on the south side of Civic Center Park. Denver architect Burnham Hoyt renovated the building, which opened as the Schleier Memorial Gallery in 1949. While the Schleier Gallery was a significant addition, the DAM still sought to increase its space. Additional pressure came from the Kress Foundation, who offered to donate three collections valued at over $2 million on the condition that DAM construct a new building to house the works. DAM sought help from the city and county of Denver to raise funds. However, in 1952 voters failed to approve a resolution bond. Despite this setback, the museum continued to raise funds and eventually opened a new building, the South Wing (now known as the Bach Wing), in 1954. This made it possible for DAM to receive the three Kress Foundation collections. The North Building, a seven-story 210,000-square-foot addition, opened in 1971. The building was designed by Italian
modernist architect Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that Form f ...
Gio Ponti Giovanni "Gio" Ponti ( ͡ʒo18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher. During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more tha ...
, with local architects James Sudler Associates of Denver. Ponti said, “Art is a treasure, and these thin but jealous walls defend it.” It is his only completed design built in the United States. Ponti designed the DAM building to break from the traditional museum archetypes. The two-towered "castle-like" façade has 24 sides, and more than one million reflective
glass tile Glass tiles are pieces of glass formed into consistent shapes. Early history Glass was used in mosaics as early as 2500 BC, but it took until the 3rd century BC before innovative artisans in Greece, Persian empire, Persia and India created glas ...
s, designed by
Dow Corning Dow Corning Corporation, was an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Originally established as a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Corning Incorporated, Dow bought out Corning and ...
, cover the building's exterior. The museum is included in the area of the Civic Center Historic District, which was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The museum building was deemed "non-contributing". With Includes __ photos. ()''


2006–Present

The Duncan Pavilion and the
Frederic C. Hamilton Frederic C. Hamilton (September 25, 1927 – September 30, 2016) was the chairman of The Hamilton Companies LLC, a loosely connected group of companies focused on oil production, real estate holdings and educational institutions. Frederic C. Hamilt ...
Building were both added to the museum in 2006. The Duncan Pavilion, a 5,700-square-foot second story addition to the Bach Wing, was created to accommodate the bridge traffic from the new Hamilton Building and the existing North Building (1971). Duncan Pavilion was designed to be kid- and family-friendly while also suitable for multi-use, including the museum'
Untitled Final Friday
series as well as wedding receptions and other events. In December 2016, the Denver Art Museum announced a transformational $150 million project to unify the museum's campus and revitalize Ponti's building (now called the Martin Building), including the creation of new gallery spaces, two new dining options and the new Sie Welcome Center. With architecture and design led by Machado Silvetti and Denver-based Fentress Architects, the renovation project is slated for completion in 2021 in time for the 50th anniversary of Ponti's original building. The Duncan Pavilion was demolished in 2019.


Hamilton Building

The Frederic C. Hamilton Building houses the museum's Modern and Contemporary Art, African Art and Oceanic Art collections, along with part of the Western American art collection and special exhibition spaces. Designed as a joint venture by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Denver firm Davis Partnership Architects (architect of record), the glass and titanium- clad building opened on October 7, 2006. Recognized by the American Institute of Architects as a successful Building Information Modeling project, the Hamilton Building is Libeskind's first completed building in the United States. Recognized for its bold design, the iconic, four story, 146,000 square foot, the Hamilton building serves as the main entrance to the rest of the museum complex. This project doubled the size of the museum, allowing for an expansion of the art on view. The angular design of the Hamilton building juts in many directions, supported by a 2,740-ton structure that contains more than 3,100 pieces of steel. One of the angled elements extends 167 feet over and 100 feet above the street below. None of the 20 planes is parallel or perpendicular to another. Similar to the many-peaked roof of the
Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...
, the Hamilton Building emulates the sharp angles of the nearby
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
, as well as the geometric
crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
s found at the mountains' base near Denver. Architect
Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...
said, “I was inspired by the light and geology of the Rockies, but most of all by the wide-open faces of the people of Denver.” ;Context Regarding the design concept, Libeskind commented, “The project is not designed as a standalone building but as part of a composition of public spaces, monuments and gateways in this developing part of the city, contributing to the synergy amongst neighbors large and intimate.” Libeskind designed a landscaped pedestrian plaza for the DAM complex. Sculptures on display include 'Scottish Angus Cow and Calf' by
Dan Ostermiller Dan Ostermiller (born 1956 in Cheyenne, Wyoming) is an American sculptor best known for his depictions of animals. , he is president of the National Sculpture Society. He resides in Loveland, Colorado. Works Ostermiller's works are on display in ...
, 'Big Sweep' by
Coosje van Bruggen Coosje van Bruggen (June 6, 1942 – January 10, 2009) was a Dutch-born American sculptor, art historian, and critic.Kino, Carol. January 13, 2009 ''The New York Times''. She collaborated extensively with her husband, Claes Oldenburg. Biography ...
and
Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...
, and 'Denver Monoliths' by
Beverly Pepper Beverly Pepper (née Stoll; December 20, 1922 – February 5, 2020) was an American sculptor known for her monumental works, site specific and land art. She remained independent from any particular art movement. She lived in Italy, primarily in ...
. ;Awards Due to the distinct configuration of the steel to produce the building, the Hamilton Building expansion of the DAM received a Presidential Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction—
AISC The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) is a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association for the use of structural steel in the construction industry of the United States. AISC publishes the Steel Construction Manual ...
’s 2007 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel (IDEAS2) Awards competition.American Institute of Steel Construction
"2007 IDEAS2 Awards."
Modern Steel Construction 2007. Print.
;Architectural reviews The design of the Hamilton extension of DAM has received mixed reviews. Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', said the architectural achievement of the building does not mean it works well as a museum. He called the Hamilton Building "a stunning piece of architectural sculpture," but "a pretty terrible place for showing and looking at art." "Museum architecture does not always blend cohesively with a great architectural achievement."Sydell, Laura, perf. "Blancing Form, Function In Museum Architecture." All Things Considered. NPR: December 8, 2008. Radio. Lewis Sharp (DAM director, 1989–2009) said one of the most thrilling things about the Hamilton Building is that visitors can see the artworks in a new environment, as there are at least 20 different ways to display and hang artists’ work in the sloping and angular galleries. “I think you often see things that you had never seen before," Sharp said. "It just raises all types of potentially new ways to engage a visitor.” Some visitors and Denver residents appreciate the design, such as the Andreesons, who said, “We’re in normal looking buildings every single day. It’s just kind of an experience to walk into a room that doesn’t look like rooms that we would normally be in.” Sharp said that was exactly what the museum was looking for in their expansion. He said the museum's board was seeking the opportunity to draw people to the city.


Martin Building

On January 10, 2018, the Denver Art Museum broke ground on a comprehensive renovation of its iconic North Building—the only completed structure in North America designed by renowned Italian architect Gio Ponti. One of the first-ever high rise art museums, the North Building was renamed in 2019 in honor of Lanny and Sharon Martin, who made the lead gift of $25 million to revitalize the building as part of the museum's ongoing campus transformation project. Additionally, the Elevate Denver Bond Program contributed $35.5 million in funding to DAM's project. The renovation includes updates to all seven floors of galleries, the creation of new learning and engagement spaces, as well as a new restaurant, cafe, and the Sie Welcome Center. The design includes skylights, which reveal new aspects of his design, and exterior site improvements such as lighting as well as revitalizing the glass tiles on the façade of the building. Machado Silvetti and Denver-based Fentress Architects are the design teams behind the $150 million project slated for reopening timed to the building's 50th anniversary in 2021. When Ponti's original structure was built in 1971, it was designed to accommodate 100,000 visitors per year. In 2017, the museum estimated an average attendance of 850,000 visitors annually. To accommodate growing audiences, the museum's renovation project will add more than 72,000 square feet (6,689 m2) of new and refurbished gallery and visitor spaces, in addition to the implementation of crucial safety and infrastructure upgrades.


Sie Welcome Center

As part of the Denver Art Museum's major transformation project, the new Sie Welcome Center was constructed to create a new visitor-friendly entrance to the Martin Building and as a connector to the Hamilton Building. Named in honor of Anna and John J. Sie who pledged $12 million in support of the project, the round, glass-clad structure designed by Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects will serve as the Martin Building's new visitor entrance and ticketing center. When the Sie Welcome Center opens, it will be home to The Ponti, a restaurant focused on local ingredients led by James Beard Award-winning chef Jennifer Jasinski, as well as a more casual cafe for lighter fare. On the second floor of the Sie Welcome Center is the Sturm Grand Pavilion, one of downtown Denver's largest and most distinctive special event spaces. Over 10,000 square feet, the pavilion's curved, glass panels offer a unique view of the city. On the second floor of the Sie Welcome Center is the Sturm Grand Pavilion, one of downtown Denver's largest and most distinctive special event spaces. Over 10,000 square feet, the pavilion's curved, glass panels offer a unique view of the city. Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Galleries As part of the Martin Building renovation, the new Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Galleries will present 7,000 square feet (650 m2) of new gallery space for the museum's permanent collection. Reclaiming square footage previously used for art storage, this completely renovated space on level one of the Martin Building will be dedicated to temporary exhibitions pulled from the museum's extensive global art collections. New Design Galleries As part of the renovation of the museum's Martin Building (formerly known as the North Building), Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects horizontally bisected the Martin Building's original Bonfils-Stanton Gallery on level one to create 10,000 square feet (929 m2) of new gallery space on the second level within the original footprint of the building: the Joanne Posner-Mayer Mezzanine Gallery, the Amanda J. Precourt Design Galleries, and the Ellen Bruss Design Studio. To realize the interior design of these new exhibition spaces, the museum partnered with New York-based design firm OMA, who collaborated with the museum previously for the 2018 blockbuster exhibition Dior: From Paris to the World.


Duncan Pavilion

The Duncan Pavilion was a second story addition to the Bach Wing of the Denver Art Museum and opened in February 2006. The pavilion was demolished in 2017, and the site is now the location of the Sie Welcome Center, part of the museum's transformational renovation project. The Duncan Pavilion served as a link between the Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building and the 1971 Gio Ponti-designed North Building. The project's intent included preserving the integrity of the oldest part of the museum, the Bach Wing built in 1954, while providing a significant mechanical upgrade for it. The Duncan Pavilion's open assembly area received the pedestrian bridge from the Hamilton Building with a pedestrian elevator and glass staircase linking pedestrian traffic to the Signature Gallery on the first floor. An upgraded extension of the existing freight elevator created the final link in the system facilitating artwork traffic between buildings so that artwork could be received and serviced in the Hamilton Building and transported to and from the Ponti building's galleries without exiting the protective environment of the museum.


Collections

The Denver Art Museum has nine curatorial departments: African Art; Architecture and Design; Art of the Ancient Americas; Asian Art; Modern and Contemporary; Native Arts (African, American Indian and Oceanic); New World (pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial); Painting and Sculpture (European and American); Photography; Western Art; and Textile Art and Fashion.


African Art

The collection of African art is made up of roughly 1,000 pieces, mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries. It includes many rare works in sculpture, textiles, jewelry, painting, printmaking, and drawings. While a majority of their collection focuses on
west African West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Ma ...
works, there are pieces from many regions and mediums, such as wood, metals, fibers, terra cotta, and mixed media compositions.


Art of the Ancient Americas

The museum's Ancient Americas collection covers over four thousand years of art, including historic works from peoples and communities throughout
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
,
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, and the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and
Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
. The department was formed in 1968, and is known for its collection of Central American ceramics, jade, and stone sculpture.


Architecture & Design

The Denver Art Museum's Architecture, Design and Graphics department was founded in 1990 by former director Lewis I. Sharp. The collection has concentrations in areas including Italian design from the 1960s and 1970s, American graphic design from the 1950s to the present day, post-World War II furniture and product design in America and western Europe and contemporary western European and Japanese design.


Asian Art

The museum's
Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...
collection includes galleries devoted to the arts of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and Southwestern Asia, as well as works from
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
,
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. The collection, which originated in 1915 with a donation of Chinese and Japanese art objects, spans a period from the fourth millennium B.C. to the present.


European & American Art Before 1900

The Denver Art Museum began receiving significant examples of European from the 1930s with Horace Havemyer's donations of works by Corot, Courbet, and Millet and seven others. From 1932 onwards, funds from the Helen Dill Bequest enabled the museum to acquire works by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre-Auguste Renoir as well as paintings by American artists Thomas Hart Benton, Winslow Homer, John Twachtman, and William Merritt Chase. The Dill bequest comprised thirty-seven works purchased for a sum of $65,650 by 1961. Artists represented include
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
(''Waterlilies''),
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
(''Autumn, Poplars, Éragny''),
Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...
(''Two Figures by the Sea''),
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
(''Valley of the Black Pool''),
Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (30 September 1865 – 24 September 1953) was a French artist and a leading exponent of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and Art Nouveau. His works include paintings, drawings, ceramics, furniture and interior design. Early life ...
(''The Dolomites''),
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
(''Examen de Danse''),
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (baptized 23 March 16095 May 1664) was an Italian Baroque painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his etchings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monoty ...
(''Deucalion and Pyrrha''),
Giuseppe Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. These w ...
(''Summer'') and
Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintin ...
(''Dream of Arcadia''). ;The Berger Collection The Berger Collection is a major private collection largely of
British art The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms ...
that includes approximately 200 works and spans more than six centuries. Renaissance portraits, including works by
Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Jüngere;  – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered o ...
, are a strength of the collection. Other artists represented include
Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard () was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, ...
,
Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...
,
Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...
,
Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...
,
Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...
and
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
.


The Hamilton Collection

Frederic C. Hamilton bequeathed 22
Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
works from his private collection to the museum in 2014, including
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
's ''Edge of a Wheat Field With Poppies'', fours works by
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, three paintings by
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summa ...
and works by
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
, Edouard Manet,
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
,
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, Auguste Renoir,
Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...
,
William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...
and
Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...
.


Indigenous Arts of North America

Works by contemporary artists such as
Jeffrey Gibson Jeffrey A. Gibson (born 1972)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol. 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee painter, and sculptor. He has lived and worked in Brooklyn; Hudson, New York; and Ge ...
,
Kent Monkman Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River band situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. He is both a visual as well as performance artist, working in a variety ...
,
D.Y. Begay D.Y. Begay (born 1953) is a Navajo textile artist born into the Tóʼtsohnii (Big Water) Clan and born from the Táchiiʼnii (Red Streak Earth) Clan. Biography Begay is a fourth generation weaver who grew up surrounded by women weavers. From the ...
,
Rose B. Simpson Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) (born 1983) is a mixed-media artist who works in ceramic, metal, fashion, painting, music, performance, and installation. She lives and works in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. Her work has been exhibited at SI ...
,
Fritz Scholder Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...
,
T.C. Cannon Tommy Wayne Cannon (September 27, 1946 – May 8, 1978) (Kiowa) was an important Native American artist of the 20th century. He was popularly known as T. C. Cannon. He was an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe and also had Caddo and French ...
,
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (born 1940) is a Native American visual artist and curator. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is also of Métis and Shoshone descent. She is also an art educator, art advocate ...
, James Luna,
Marie Watt Marie Watt (born 1967) is a contemporary artist living and working in Portland, Oregon. Enrolled in the Seneca Nation of Indians, Watt has created work primarily with textile arts and community collaboration centered on diverse Native American th ...
,
Nicholas Galanin Nicholas Galanin (pronounced gah-LANN-in) is a Tlingit and Unangax̂ multi-disciplinary artist and musician from Alaska. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities. Background Nicholas Gal ...
,
Virgil Ortiz Virgil Ortiz (born 1969) is a Pueblo artist, known for his pottery and fashion design from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico. Ortiz makes a variety of pottery, including traditional Cochiti figurative pottery, experimental figurative pottery, traditiona ...
,
Roxanne Swentzell Roxanne Swentzell (born December 9, 1962) is a Santa Clara Tewa Native American sculptor, ceramic artist, Indigenous food activist, and gallerist. Her artworks are in major public collections and she has won numerous awards. Swentzell's work ...
,
Nora Naranjo Morse Nora Naranjo Morse (born 1953) is a Native American artist and poet. She currently resides in Española, New Mexico just north of Santa Fe and is a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo. Her work can be found in several museum collections including t ...
, Julie Buffalohead,
Wendy Red Star Wendy Red Star (born 1981) is an Apsáalooke contemporary multimedia artist born in Billings, Montana, in the United States. Her humorous approach and use of Native Americans in the United States, Native American images from traditional media dr ...
, Cannupa Hanska Luger,
Edgar Heap of Birds Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne name: Hock E Aye Vi) is a multi-disciplinary artist. His art contributions include public art messages, large scale drawings, Neuf Series acrylic paintings, prints, and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor scu ...
,
Rick Bartow Richard Elmer "Rick" Bartow (December 16, 1946 – April 2, 2016) was a Native American artist and a member of the Mad River band of the Wiyot Tribe, who are indigenous to Humboldt County, California. He primarily created pastel, graphite, an ...
, Cara Romero,
Shan Goshorn Shan Goshorn (July 3, 1957 – December 1, 2018) was an Eastern Band Cherokee artist, who lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her interdisciplinary artwork expresses human rights issues, especially those that affect Native American people today. Goshorn used ...
,
Diego Romero (artist) Diego Romero (born 1964) is a Cochiti Pueblo artist living in New Mexico. Background Diego Romero was born in Berkeley, California in 1964. His father is Santiago Romero, a Cochiti Pueblo Indian, and his mother is Nellie Guth, a European-America ...
,
Harry Fonseca Harry Eugene Fonseca (1946 – 2006) was a Nisenan Native Americans in the United States, Native American artist, and illustrator. He was an enrolled citizen of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. Education Harry Eugene Fonseca was bor ...
, Kay WalkingStick, Melanie Yazzie,
David Bradley (Native American artist) David Bradley (born 1954) is a Minnesota Chippewa artist. He is known for his sociopolitical critique of contemporary Native American art, and as an artist-activist battling art fraud among other concerns. Personal life Born in Minnesota in 19 ...
,
Truman Lowe Truman Tennis Lowe (January 19, 1944 – March 30, 2019) ( Ho-Chunk) was an American sculptor and installation artist. A professor of fine art at the University of Wisconsin, Lowe also served as a curator of contemporary art at the National Muse ...
,
Norval Morrisseau Norval Morrisseau (March 14, 1932 – December 4, 2007), also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Indigenous Canadian artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depi ...
,
Allan Houser Allan Capron Houser or Haozous (June 30, 1914 – August 22, 1994) was a Chiricahua Apache sculptor, painter and book illustrator born in Oklahoma.Will Wilson (photographer),
Jim Denomie Jim Denomie (1955 – March 1, 2022) was an American Ojibwe painter, known for his colorful, at times comical, looks at United States history and Native Americans. Background Early life A member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superi ...
,
Dyani White Hawk Dyani White Hawk (full name Dyani White Hawk Polk) (born 1976) is a contemporary artist and curator of Sicangu Lakota, German, and Welsh ancestry based out of Minnesota. From 2010 to 2015, White Hawk was a curator for the Minneapolis gallery All M ...
, Jamie Okuma, James Lavadour,
Gail Tremblay Gail Tremblay (born 1945) is an American writer and artist with Mi'kmaq and Onondaga ancestry. A professor at The Evergreen State College since 1981, she lives and works in Washington State. Tremblay received a Washington State Governor's Arts an ...
, Preston Singletary, Bently Spang, Richard Zane Smith, and
Dan Namingha Dan Namingha (born 1950, Keams Canyon, Arizona) is a Hopi painter and sculptor. He is Dextra Quotskuyva's son, and a great-great-grandson of Nampeyo. He is a member of the Hopi-Tewa member of the Hopi Tribe. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. E ...
are included in the collection.


Latin American Art

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, the Denver Art Museum currently houses the largest collection of art produced in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
between the 1600s and the 1800s. It is made up of over 6,000 objects, representing historic works from
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, and the
Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
.


Modern and Contemporary Art

DAM's
Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...
and
Contemporary Art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
collection includes works by artists including
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
,
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
and
Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...
, as well as 33 paintings, drawings and collages by the acclaimed abstract expressionist
Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...
. The collection also holds representative works from the major post-war art movements, including
abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
,
minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
, pop art,
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
and
contemporary realism The contemporary realism movement is a worldwide style of painting which came into existence c. 1960s and early 1970s. Featuring a straightforward approach to representation practiced by artists such as Philip Pearlstein, Alex Katz, Jack Beal an ...
. The department includes the
Herbert Bayer Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect. He was instrumental in the development of the ...
Collection and Archive, containing more than 8000 objects. ;Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive The Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive contains over 8,000 works, along with extensive documentary material. This internationally important repository is dedicated to the legacy of the Austrian-born Bauhaus master who lived in Colorado for 28 years. The core of this collection and archive came through the artist's bequest, and scholars visit from around the world to engage the collection for research. While the Bayer art works are part of the Denver Art Museum's Modern and Contemporary Art collection, and works not on public view are available for scholarly study by appointment. The archive of non-art materials was transferred to the Denver Public Library in September 2018. ;''Linda'' A visitor favorite, ''Linda'', by
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
artist John DeAndrea, is a life-size realistic sculpture of a sleeping woman. Made of
polyvinyl In polymer chemistry, vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from substituted vinyl () monomers. Their backbone is an extended alkane chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Examples Vinyl polymers are ...
, the piece is sunlight-sensitive and is shown only for short periods of time. It is so lifelike people often think it is breathing. ;''The Shootout'' In 1983 the museum became the home of the controversial pop-art sculpture ''The Shootout'' by
Red Grooms Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop art, pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. Grooms was given the nickname "Red" by Dominic ...
. It represents a cowboy and an Indian shooting at one another. The sculpture, now on the roof of the museum restaurant, had been evicted from two other downtown Denver locations after Native American activists protested and threatened to deface the work. The sculpture was removed from view in November 2017, and the display space where it had been located was replaced with the Sie Welcome Center, which opened to the public in October 2021. ;''AS TO BE IN PLAIN SIGHT'' One of the most photogenic pieces in the museum, the piece is an
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
cutout of the words "AS TO BE IN PLAIN SIGHT" made by
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
ist
Lawrence Weiner Lawrence Charles Weiner (February 10, 1942December 2, 2021) was an American conceptual artist. He was one of the central figures in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s. His work often took the form of typographic texts, a form of word a ...
. The piece is hung on a wall in the museum's third floor, and the view of it is obscured from most points of the museum, ironically hiding it in plain sight. The piece was originally on display outside the museum, but was moved to its current location in 2009.


Oceanic Art

The Oceanic art collection encompasses about 1,000 objects, with an emphasis on 20th century
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
art and 19th century Polynesian art. These collections include works of sculpture, bark cloth, wood carvings, and even some work by contemporary artists.


Photography

The DAM established a dedicated curatorial department to
photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
in 2008. The department's collection includes numerous 19th-century works, notably of the American West, as well as holdings of European and American modernist photography. Works by early Western photographers William Bell and Timothy O'Sullivan, 19th-century artists
William Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later ...
and Henry Bosse and modernist photographers such as Gyorgi Kepes and
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
are included in the collection.


Textile and Fashion

The Textile Art and Fashion department of the museum houses over 5,000 pieces from
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. These pieces form a collection that spans from archaeological textiles to contemporary works of art and fashion from the
18th century The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trad ...
to the modern day.


Western American Art

The institute is organized to support the study, collection, preservation and exhibition of art created about the American West, its people, its history and its landscape. ''In the Enemy's Country'' by Charles M. Russell, ''The Cheyenne'' by
Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Stat ...
and ''Long Jakes, "The Rocky Mountain Man"'' by Charles Deas are the anchors for the museum's collection. Other highlights include
Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
's ''Mount of the Holy Cross'',
Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...
's ''Wind River Country'' and
E. Martin Hennings Ernest Martin Hennings (1886–1956) was an American artist and member of the Taos Society of Artists. Biography E. Martin Hennings was born in Penns Grove, New Jersey on February 5, 1886 to German immigrant parents. Two years after he was born, ...
' ''Rabbit Hunt''. ;The Harmsen Collection In 2001, the Western American Art collection was augmented by a gift of more than 700 art objects from the Bill and Dorothy Harmsen Family; this was the impetus for establishing the institute of western American art at the DAM. The institute received its new title—the Petrie Institute of Western American Art—in 2007, following a gift from the Thomas A. Petrie family to partially endow the department.


The Roath Collection

In 2013, the museum received a gift of American art from Henry Roath that doubled the importance of its existing western collection. The Roath Collection comprises more than 50 works, ranging in date from 1877 to 1972, by artists such as Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington and Ernest L. Blumenschein.


Selected collection highlights

Camille Pissarro - Automne, Peupliers, Eragny (Autumn, Poplars, Eragny) - Google Art Project.jpg, Camille Pissarro Claude Monet - Waterloo Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, Claude Monet Claude Monet - Le Bassin des Nympheas - Google Art Project.jpg, Claude Monet Charles Marion Russell - In the Enemy's Country - Google Art Project.jpg, Charles Marion Russell


Learning & Engagement

The museum'
Learning & Engagement department
has emphasized three areas: 1) Research in making museum visits successful and enjoyable; 2) Creation of innovative installed learning materials (e.g., audio tours, labeling, video and reading areas, response journals and hands-on and artmaking areas); and 3) Interactive learning for young people both in school and family groups. Family-friendly programs and activities include the Just for Fun Family Center, gallery games, the Discovery Library, Kids Corner and Family Backpacks. Access programs at the DAM include Art & About tours, for visitors with early-stage
Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...
or
dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
; Low Sensory Mornings; and Tactile Tables. A key priority of the Denver Art Museum's ongoing campus transformation project is to center the DAM's renowned educational programs at the heart of the campus, in order to expand the museum's ability to engage visitors of all ages in creative learning opportunities. The new Bartlit Learning and Engagement Center features more than 12,000 square-feet of flexible programming space, workshop rooms and the Singer Pollack Family Wonderscape, which will present student-created exhibitions and host school and community events. With interactive spaces designed by Mexico City-based Esrawe + Cadena, the interactive Bartlit Center also features the Morgridge Creative Hub. Spanning more than 5,600 square-feet, the Hub is a place for gathering and connection, a platform for diverse and evolving community-driven programming and a celebration of local creativity, with members of the creative community developing many of the hands-on art experiences.


Funding

The museum is run by a
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
separate from the City of Denver. Major funding for the museum is provided by a 0.1% sales tax levied in the
Scientific and Cultural Facilities District The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a special regional tax district of the State of Colorado that provides funding for art, music, theater, dance, zoology, botany, natural history, or cultural history organizations in the D ...
(SCFD), which includes seven Colorado counties (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson) in the
Denver-Aurora metropolitan area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver r ...
. The district provides funding to about 300 arts, cultural and scientific organizations in the seven counties. About 65% of this tax is used to provide funding for the Denver Art Museum and four other major science and cultural facilities in Denver: the
Denver Botanic Gardens The Denver Botanic Gardens is a public botanical garden located in the Cheesman Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The park contains a conservatory, a variety of theme gardens and a sunken amphitheater, which hosts various concerts in the su ...
, the
Denver Zoo Denver Zoo is an nonprofit zoological garden located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1896, it is operated by the Denver Zoological Foundation and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD ...
, the
Denver Museum of Nature and Science The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help mus ...
and the
Denver Center for the Performing Arts The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...
. In addition, the museum receives large private donations and loans from private collections. Over the past five years, the Denver Art Museum has averaged more than 600,000 visitors a year.


Media Mentions

The museum was mentioned in
Smithsonian Channel The Smithsonian Channel is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its media networks division under MTV Entertainment Group. It offers video content inspired by the Smithsonian Institution's museums, research facili ...
's '' Aerial America'' "Colorado" episode in 2012. Ten years later, it was mentioned in a ''How Do they Build That?'' episode (also on Smithsonian).


References


External links


Official Denver Art Museum website

''Wall Street Journal'': The Mastery Behind Denver's "Becoming van Gogh" exhibition.Denver Art Museum
within Google Arts & Culture * {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Colorado Museums in Denver Native American museums in Colorado Mesoamerican art museums in the United States Modern art museums in the United States Contemporary art galleries in the United States Contemporary crafts museums in the United States Decorative arts museums in the United States African art museums in the United States American West museums in Colorado Museums of American art FRAME Museums Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums 1893 establishments in Colorado Art museums established in 1918 1918 establishments in Colorado Art museums established in 1971 Buildings and structures completed in 2006 Daniel Libeskind buildings Postmodern architecture in Colorado Asian art museums in the United States Civic Center Historic District (Denver, Colorado)