Great art speaks to everyone in different ways, and the South’s impressive assortment of museums prove that art is for everyone. From the world-famous Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, to quieter collections like the one at the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, our region is blessed with some of best art museums in the country and even the world. Here are 17 that are worth planning a trip around.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Credit: Robbie Caponetto
Happy 15th anniversary to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by philanthropist and Walmart heir Alice Walton and resplendent with hundreds of influential works—from Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter to a stained glass window from Tiffany Studios. With its recent 114,000-square-foot expansion, you’ll wander past newer pieces (such as sculptor Nari Ward’s We the People, an installation composed of shoelaces) as well as classics by Georgia O’Keeffe and Asher B. Durand. Current exhibitions include Keith Haring’s bold designs reimagined in 3D as well as the rural-focused “Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work” by Anna Mary Robertson, also known as Grandma Moses, who had her first solo show at age 80. An “art everywhere” philosophy means the hallways, elevators, and even restrooms are filled with more to see.
crystalbridges.org; 600 Museum Way Bentonville, AR 72712; 479-418-5700
Birmingham Museum of Art
Credit: Photo: Courtesy M. Sean Pathasema/Birmingham Museum of Art
The Birmingham Museum of Art, which has been around for 75 years, boasts the largest Wedgwood assortment outside England, masterworks (predominantly Italian Renaissance) from the Kress Collection, and the Lamprecht Collection of German cast-iron objects. They also have one of the broadest selections of Asian pieces in the Southeast, featuring Vietnamese ceramics and Japanese woodblock prints, plus works from China, Korea, and India. Their showstopping Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, an 1865 painting by Albert Bierstadt, was honored as one of 40 pieces included in the Picturing America program by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Library Association. Set to open in late September, the “Roll Call: Two Hundred Years of Black American Art” exhibit draws from the museum’s extensive permanent collection.
artsbma.org; 2000 Rev. Abraham Woods, Jr. Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35203; 205-254-2565
Booth Western Art Museum
Cartersville, Georgia
Credit: Booth Western Art Museum
Inside a building “designed to resemble a modern pueblo,” the Booth Western Art Museum brings the world of mesas, cattle, and renowned American frontiersman Kit Carson to a small town that’s just an hour’s drive north of Atlanta. At 120,000 square feet, this place thinks big. Maynard Dixon’s 1935 Red Butte With Mountain Men is about 8 by 18 feet, and Custer’s Last Rally by John Mulvany (created a few years after the general’s 1876 demise at the Little Bighorn) is 10.5 by 20 feet. Emotions continue in Loren Entz’s A Helping Hand, with its lone motherless calf caught in a snowstorm. And there are surprises—the abstract multimedia Home on the Range: Storytellers and Singing Cowboys is by Bernie Taupin, who is better known as Elton John’s songwriting partner.
boothmuseum.org; 501 Museum Drive, Cartersville, GA 30120; 770-387-1300
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
“Southern” is the keyword in the name of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The educational mission is to celebrate creativity in the region we love, and the result is a wondrous trove of works by both extensively trained and completely self-taught artists. They get along well together, like kids on a playground of possibilities. In this potpourri of historical movements, you can find the French Quarter Rooftops painting by Knute Heldner, a 19th-century Uptown Street landscape by Lulu King Saxon, and monumental assemblage pieces by Thornton Dial (made using all manner of miscellaneous objects). On exhibit through the end of February is “Burke’s Delight: The Stacey and Michael Burke Collection,” featuring a fascinating variety of art sourced from across the South.
ogdenmuseum.org; 925 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA 70130; 504-539-9650
Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore, Maryland
Credit: Sarah Lyon
At first, Dr. Claribel Cone and her sister Etta Cone thought the works of Henri Matisse were shocking, but over Etta’s 43-year friendship with him, she became one of his major supporters and collectors. Of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s 1,400 Matisse treasures, more than 600 were donated by these women, making this the world’s largest public collection of his works. Stories—including how he created his Large Reclining Nude—are recounted in letters and photos between the artist and the siblings. You can also watch a virtual tour of the Cone sisters’ apartments. Afterward, go through one of the museum’s current exhibitions. “Flashback: Two Centuries of Baltimore Photography” has more than 200 images captured by dozens of artists.
artbma.org; 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21281; 443-573-1700
The Dalí Museum
Credit: Courtesy Salvador Dalà Museum
If a single Salvador Dalí painting invites a lingering look, imagine The Dalí Museum, home to some 2,400 pieces encompassing his shifts from classical beginnings to Cubism and Surrealism and later renderings wrestling with science, religion, and optics. It’s all here, including eight of his masterworks—and The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, the 1954 sequel to his famous Persistence of Memory. The museum, housed in a hurricane-resistant glass-and-concrete building, originated from two American collectors who were friends with both Dalí and his wife and muse, Gala. On display through October is “Dalí in America,” a special exhibition honoring the country’s 250th anniversary. Since items constantly rotate out from the vault, no two visits are quite the same.
thedali.org; 1 Dali Blvd., St. Petersburg, FL 33701; 727-823-3767
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Sarasota, Florida
Credit: Robbie Caponetto
In the midst of the crushing Great Depression, businessman and circus owner John Ringling died with less than $300 in the bank. He did manage to save his grand Mediterranean Revival mansion, his museum, and his staggeringly valuable art collection by deeding it all to the State of Florida. At The Ringling Museum, say a fervent thank-you when you walk into Galleries 1 and 2 with five colossal paintings by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens from his Triumph of the Eucharist series. This encyclopedic facility spans from ancient Cypriot and Asian art to European pieces, photography, and contemporary works. Also on the 66 acres, you can visit Ca’ d’Zan (Ringling’s opulent 56-room mansion), a circus museum, bayfront gardens, and a studio-glass pavilion. Admission to the art museum, gardens, and glass pavilion is free on Mondays.
ringling.org; 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, FL 34243; 941-359-5700
Walter Anderson Museum of Art
Credit: Courtesy of Coastal Mississippi
Start your visit in The Little Room, a secret place opened up after Anderson’s death in 1965. The floor-to-ceiling renderings reveal his vision of a perfect day from dawn to night. Then see the murals covering 3,000 square feet on the adjacent Ocean Springs Community Center; they’ve been called “Mississippi’s Sistine Chapel.” Walk through the other galleries to witness an explosion of color and a celebration of nature.
walterandersonmuseum.org; 510 Washington Avenue, Ocean Springs, MS, 39564; 228-872-3164
Reynolda
Credit: Courtesy of Visit Winston-Salem
Locals will tell you to devote a whole day to Historic Reynolda. There’s that much to see. Inside the house and museum, stroll through the art of Romare Bearden, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Grant Wood. Frederic Edwin Church’s The Andes of Ecuador holds a prized place in the center of the 30,000-square-foot 1917 bungalow-style home (built for Katharine and R.J. Reynolds of tobacco-company fame). Step out into the 4 acres of formal gardens, complete with Japanese teahouses and the beautifully restored 1913 conservatory. Then browse the locally owned shops and restaurants of Reynolda Village. Opening in September are two special exhibitions marking the nation’s semiquincentennial: “Flash Point: The Civil Rights Photography of Danny Lyon” and “Art & Democracy.”
reynolda.org; 2250 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; 888-663-1149
Philbrook Museum of Art
Thomas Moran, Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia, 1862, oil on canvas, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gift of Laura A. Clubb, Image © 2012 Philbrook Museum of Art, Inc., Tulsa, OklahomaCredit: Philbrook Museum of Art
This city cherishes its relationship with both Route 66, opened in 1926, and Villa Philbrook (now the Philbrook Museum of Art), completed in 1927. The museum looks back this year with an exhibit celebrating the road itself and another that reflects on American Modernism during Route 66’s heyday. (One example is a lighted dance floor, which was part of the original home in the 1920s and was created long before disco.) Oilman Waite Phillips gifted this Italian Renaissance mansion for use as a museum. From antiquities to the recently acquired Soundsuit mixed-media sculpture, the 72-room facility revels in diversity. Hit the trifecta by taking in the historic house, the world-class art, and 25 acres of gardens (including the Westby Sculpture Walk and the recently opened Tandy Pavilion).
philbrook.org; 2727 S Rockford Rd., Tulsa, OK 74114; 918-749-7941
Telfair Museums
Credit: RAUL RODRIGUEZ / Getty Images
Remember the Bird Girl sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson? You might recognize it from the cover of the bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Find the original in the Telfair Academy, one of the three-buildings-for-one-ticket offerings at the Telfair Museums. The Academy is also home to the newly opened Walter and Linda Evans Gallery of African American Art and areas showcasing “Craft Along the Coast” with an emphasis on Georgia’s self-taught and decorative arts traditions. Through the end of February, head to the Jepson Center to see highlights from the permanent collection of American Revolution pieces (Savannah predates that war by 42 years). Don’t leave without taking a guided tour of the 1819 Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters.
telfair.org; 207 W York Street, Savannah, GA 31401; 912-790-8800
High Museum of Art
Atlanta, Georgia
Credit: Catmax Photography
It’s been 100 years since Mrs. Hattie High donated her Peachtree Street house to the local art association in memory of her husband to become a museum. In 1983, the High moved to a new facility that’s a modern work of art itself, complete with a curved, light-filled atrium. This year, the institution is supplementing its collection, which includes many of the best examples of Southern creativity, with special exhibitions, such as a retrospective of Martin Puryear’s iconic sculptures, the children’s book illustrations of Walter Wick, and paintings by native Georgian Amy Sherald (don’t miss her famous portrait of Michelle Obama through September 27). There’s always an incredible mix from photographers, contemporary designers, and self-taught artists. Look for a rare painting by Jacob Lawrence, which is making its debut for the centennial.
high.org; 1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309; 404-733-4400
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
The museum hosts rotating exhibitions throughout the year, and several are planned in 2023 to mark its centennial.Credit: COURTESY Lauren Rogers Museum Of Art / WALTER R. AVERETT
The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is an intimate space where small works feel at home and where the array of American and European pieces is approachable. Study the Native American Collection’s baskets—one is so tiny it can sit on a dime. William Owen’s 1810 portrait of a mother and her children is lovingly displayed, as is a silver-and-coral baby rattle from 1827. More Georgian silver glows in a new installation. Don’t miss the massive gate-like doors by blacksmith Samuel Yellin.
lrma.org; 565 N. 5th Avenue, Laurel, MS 39440; 601-649-6374
Chrysler Museum of Art
Credit: Robbie Caponetto
Walter P. Chrysler Jr., son of the namesake car company’s founder, acquired his first art piece at the age of 14 and never stopped. In 1971, he gifted 10,000 items as the core of the Chrysler Museum of Art. Today, the scope is even bigger and grander with 50 galleries and more than 35,000 objects. These include Bust of the Savior, one of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s last sculptures, as well as Italian Renaissance and Baroque creations from Jacopo Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens, and Diego Velázquez, along with works from Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, and Mary Cassatt. The 10,000-piece glass collection—featuring Tiffany Studios, Émile Gallé, and René Lalique—is considered by many to be one of the most significant of its kind. There’s even a diminutive bowl from the Roman Empire that dates back 2,000 years. The Art Nouveau furniture, the 18th-century Worcester porcelain, and the photography collection (with daguerreotypes, Civil War albumen prints, 20th-century images, and portraits) all beg for your attention.
chrysler.org; 1 Memorial Place, Norfolk, VA 23510; 757-664-6200
Gibbes Museum of Art
Gibbes Museum of ArtCredit: Photo Courtesy Gibbes Museum of Art
The Gibbes resides in a breathtaking Beaux Arts building with a second-floor stained glass-domed rotunda and vast collections, ranging from miniatures to decorative art. Big draws include Pietro Rossi’s 1882 marble Veiled Lady; sweetgrass baskets by Mary Jackson; Edward Hopper’s The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina, which was recently acquired; and 14 Auguste Rodin sculptures. The museum is planning a 6,000-square-foot expansion in the 1878 Palladian-style building next door early next year, so you can expect to discover much more of the priceless holdings currently in storage.
gibbesmuseum.org; 135 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401; 843-722-2706
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Credit: Courtesy of VMFA Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Many of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ favorites will be shifting in and out of view during the major expansion currently underway. When completed in 2029, this gem will have the fourth-largest spaces for photography and American art in the country. Here’s the trick: Check the website before you go to learn what will be on display on any given day. You will definitely find the Tiffany Studios The Blessing of the Children window, a Meissen porcelain figurine from 1741 called Large Female Pug, and Red Reeds by Dale Chihuly. You’ll also experience wonderful works of European Expressionism and Modernism, plus Indigenous American, East Asian, Ancient, and African galleries.
vmfa.museum; 200 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23220; 804-340-1400
Huntington Museum of Art
Huntington, West Virginia
Credit: Courtesy of Huntington Museum of Art
Inspiration mingles across both moods and media at the Huntington Museum of Art. Andrew Wyeth and Frederick Childe Hassam grace the generous Daywood Collection. Édouard Manet and Pablo Picasso appear in the European collection, along with British silver. There’s an abundance of glass—local Blenko and beyond—and an Alexander Calder mobile soaring high. The Huntington Museum of Art Tower by Dale Chihuly, a glass sculpture composed of 352 individual lime- and mint-colored squiggles, rises from the koi pond in the C. Fred Edwards Conservatory, which is filled with exotic plants. The building itself was largely created by Bauhaus School architect Walter Gropius; it’s the only art museum built in the United States that was designed by him.
hmoa.org; 2033 McCoy Road, Huntington, WV 25701; 304-529-2701
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