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Denver Art Museum

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Editor Pick

Denver Art Museum - a DAM Good Attraction

  • February 8, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by koshkha from Northampton, United Kingdom
Denver Art Museum - a DAM Good Attraction

Denver Art Museum

After leaving the Colorado State Capitol, we headed off for some lunch and then to the Denver Art Museum. My friend Kris who lives in Denver had shown me lots of photos of the museum but all taken from the outside – he was clearly more interested in the architecture than in the art inside. So I knew to expect some pretty funky architecture but nothing about the art collection.

If you live in the UK where most of the major state museums and art galleries have free entry, having to pay a hefty entrance fee is a bit of a shock to the system. I've been to some of the galleries in New York so I knew to expect to pay a high price, but even so we were a bit taken aback that the tickets were $13 per person. If we'd wanted to see the 'special exhibition' there would have been an additional fee on top.

We entered through the new building – I think it's called the Hamilton building. It's a stunning modern building with so many angles that it's hard to take in what you are looking at. In places it resembles a Stealth Bomber, in others a sharp blade. It's quite extraordinary from the outside but once you get inside, there's not too much evidence of the bizarre structure.

We kicked off our visit in the Modern and Contemporary Art section and were instantly stunned to find some works by really famous British artists included in this collection. My personal favourite was a floating man by Anthony Gormley and a giant blue wall-mounted bowl by Anish Kapoor. There was even a jokey Damien Hirst giant ashtray to giggle over. We also found several brightly coloured 'bar code' sculptures that were very interesting. The slightly less modern part of the modern and contemporary collection included lots of Andy Warhols. We were a bit irritated by all the 'Pah! Call that art!' comments from some of the visitors in this section but that's not unusual – they probably found some nice 'easy' paintings later on that didn't challenge them quite so much.

Also in the Hamilton building is a very interesting collection of 'Oceanic art' – pieces from the South Pacific including brightly coloured sculptures, fabric made from tree bark and very detailed carvings.

Leaving the new building, we crossed a bridge over the road below towards the North Building and spotted our first Georgia O'Keefe paintings. My sister has always been a massive O'Keefe fan so we snapped a few photos to take back and show her. My favourite was a painting of a cow's head with its tongue extended – a very different image from O'Keefe's normal erotic flower paintings. We took a break in the coffee shop where it was possible to get out on the roof and examine some big outdoor sculptures and take photos of the new building.

With coffee and muffins to give us more energy, we took the lifts up to the top floor and worked our way downwards. The top floor had a collection of European and North American paintings which covered the period from the 19th century up to 1945. I didn't find this collection particularly memorable but the floor also contained an exhibition of textiles which included some fascinated quilts and richly decorated clothing.

For the North Building, the fifth floor was my favourite section with its Asian art collection. This contained a very wide variety of sacred and secular exhibits from the India sub-continent, China, Japan, Korea and south east and south west Asia. I've seen many pieces like these in their home settings but it was really interesting to see them all brought together in a modern gallery so far from home. All the pieces were given ample space and good descriptions to help you understand what you were looking at.

The fourth floor contains one of the museum's most important collections – the pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial art collections. Apparently this is one of the finest collections in the world but it's not an era or a geography that I know anything about and the sheer volume of exhibits was exhausting. This struck me as more of a research collection and less a collection that's intended to be viewed and enjoyed. With its fascinating history of native tribes, Colorado's leading art museum could have been predicted to have a fantastic collection of American Indian art and we weren't disappointed. Spread over floors 2 and 3 there were plenty of fascinating, educational and decorative items, some intended as art, and others just showing the craftsmanship of every day items. With beadwork, pottery, paintings, sculpture and even contemporary American Indian artists, there was a real treasure trove of items that we would struggle to have seen anywhere in Europe.

We finally ended our visit with a temporary exhibit on the ground floor showing hand made quilts by a particular group of quilters. I have to be honest, their charms went right over my head. I had no idea why they were supposed to be so precious or so significant as most just seemed to be badly mis-shapen and quite ugly. Never mind, you can't love everything in any museum.

The museum has clearly given a lot of thought to its younger visitors and there are lots of places around the museum where there are special events and challenges for the kids to take part in. There are also 'library' areas with reference texts where people who want to know more can stop and use the books.

We also enjoyed the sculptures in the museum grounds, some of which showed a real sense of humour. Examples included a giant dustpan and brush outside the Hamilton building and a cowboy and Indian shootout on the roof by the cafeteria.

Despite my initial reservations about the cost, I was really impressed by the Denver Art Museum. There's a world-class collection of art and artefacts that really made me wonder that a state museum could pull off exhibits of a class and variety that many national galleries would struggle to match. It's not even as if Denver is one of the wealthiest or artiest of the states and yet the Denver Art Museum can truly hold its head up high as a museum of real quality and diversity. If we hadn't needed to leave enough time for one more attraction that day, I think we'd have stayed for a couple more hours to have a really good look.

From journal A few of the attractions of Denver

Editor Pick

Denver Art Museum

  • October 13, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by beckilena from Fort Collins, Colorado
Denver Art Museum

The new Hamilton expansion to the Denver Art Museum breathes new life and light into an already amazing art museum. After 6 years of planning and construction the new creation is now open to the public after the 35 hour straight opening featuring live music and performances. I chose to visit the museum after the chaos of the opening.

Vertigo seems to ensue immediately after entering the immense, stair filled venue (not to deter, there are elevators but you will miss you on some amazing views). It's a bit like the Guggenheim layout, except more mountainous views surround the viewer. The new building is the most experimental building to be added to the Denver skyline. The exposed angles penetrate the surrounding area spreading light all around. The new expansion sheds light on the unbelievable collection of modern and primitive art the museum show cases. The curatorial genius is in the juxtaposition of the African art with the Modern collection. This set up allows the viewer to see the influence African art had on the Modern art movement. On the main level there is an expansive collection of Japanese prints donated by collectors John and Kimiko Powers. For the more purists there is also some Western art, but the new addition seems to focus more on the contemporary. For any fans of the magazine Juxtapoz the Modern Japanese collection is a must see. There are some wildly, inventive and somewhat outlandish sculpture and installation to be found in this section as well. Along with the new expansion it's still a great idea to visit the old building to see some excellent examples of European, Asian, Decorative, Western, Primitive, and various other genres of art.

The area surrounding the new building is also growing so it's a great place to spend the day and enjoy some great artwork. There is also a great vegetarian restaurant 3 blocks away called the Watercourse (but beware with scheduling because both the art museum and this excellent restaurant are closed on Mondays). All in all the new addition complements the old well and is a great complement to the city, I would strongly recommend a visit to anyone!

From journal A Cultural Tour of Denver, Colorado

Editor Pick

Denver Art Museum

  • June 2, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by beckilena from Fort Collins, Colorado
The Denver Art Museum, or DAM, is becoming the arts Mecca between the coasts. This incredible museum is gaining new found notoriety with its recent expansion. The already architecturally pleasing building has taken on a new life of sharp angles and reflective surfaces, it's as though Frank Gehery's cousin has taken over downtown Denver. Gio Ponti, Italian designer, dreamed up the 28-sided, two-towered building in collaboration with James Sudler Associates of Denver. The new building has seven floors of gallery space, stacked vertically to enable visitors and connected by an elevator. The exterior is covered with more than one million faceted, shimmering gray tiles that capture the sun refracting it at all angles, making the building hard to miss.

The museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10am to 5pm with an extended closure time of 9pm on Wednesdays and Saturday from 12pm to 5pm. The Cultural Complex Garage at 13th Avenue and Broadway is the most convenient place to park. It is open daily from 6am to 10pm. The garage charged roughly a dollar an hour. The DAM was founded in 1893 and its collection houses more than 600,000 works of art. The collection ranges from American Indian art, Pre-Columbian, Asian, textile, modern, and design. The expansion is planned to be open to the public in Fall of this year...we are anxiously awaiting it!

From journal Artwalk in Denver Colorado

Denver Art Museum

  • July 24, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Laura from Chicago, Illinois
This museum appeared very new. It was lovely. We went to the American Photography exhibit. It features American photos from the 1890s to today. There were also galleries on each of the 7 floors. We saw the Western Art gallery that reatured a collection donated from the Jolly Rancher Candy family. There is a pre-Columbin gallery and an Asian gallery too. The museum restaurant Palettes is a great choice featuring smaller and larger plates of eclectic food.

From journal Denver for a big convention

Denver Art Museum

  • September 14, 2000
  • Rated 2 of 5 by camera-gal from Overland Park, Kansas
The Denver Art Museum was renovated in 1993. Their collection excels in the areas of Asian, pre-Columbian, Spanish-Colonial, and Southwestern art. The musueum also has some contemporary and modern pieces. They also have special exhibits throughout the year. When I was there, they had a painting by Monet on loan. Not the best art museum I've ever seen, but a good way to spend an afternoon.

From journal Mile High Denver

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