The Denver Art Museum was founded in 1893 as the Denver Artists' Club. Today it is one of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast with global art collections that represent cultures around the world as well as work by artists from Denver and the Rocky Mountain region. Internationally known for its Indigenous Arts of North America collection, the museum also has one of the finest collections of Latin American Art and Art of the Ancient Americas.
Throughout its history, the Denver Art Museum has had several temporary homes, including the public library, a downtown mansion, and a portion of the Denver City and County Building. In 1971, the museum opened the North Building, now known as the Martin Building, one of only two buildings in North America designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti.
When the North Building opened, it was viewed as a "forerunner in the worldwide transformation of the temple-style museum into a proliferation of unprecedented and startling architectural forms." This bold tradition continued in 2000, with the selection of Daniel Libeskind for a visionary take on an expansion of the museum campus.
The resulting Frederic C. Hamilton Building opened to the public in 2006. The Hamilton Building includes the museum's major exhibition spaces for special presentations and traveling art shows while the newly opened Martin Building is home to the museum's encyclopedic collections and innovative Learning & Engagement Center, which brings the museum's world-renowned museum education programming for all ages to the center of the campus.
In 2015, following efforts to focus on equal access to the arts and art education for young people, the Denver Art Museum announced its groundbreaking Free for Kids program, underwriting admission for all youth ages 18 and under. The program was created with leadership and support from museum trustee Scott Reiman, and additional support from corporate sponsors.
In 2016, following several years of increased attendance growth as well as a change in how the museum serves the wider community, the Denver Art Museum announced a significant renovation and expansion of the North end of the campus in order to better serve its 800,000 annual visitors. And in October 2021, the Denver Art Museum opened its reimagined expanded campus which includes the complete renovation of the 50-year-old Ponti-designed building, as well as the new Anna and John J. Sie Welcome Center, which houses guest services and two dining options.
The Denver Art Museum has more than 70,000 works of art across 12 permanent collections.
Arts of the Ancient Americas
European and American Art before 1900
Indigenous Arts of North America
Textile Arts and Fashion
Western American Art
Consists of more than 18,000 objects dating from the 1500s to the present, comprising one of the preeminent modern and contemporary design collections of any comprehensive museum in the United States.
Focused on the diverse artistic traditions of Africa, including rare and exquisite works in sculpture, textiles, jewelry, painting, printmaking, and drawings.
With more than 7,000 artworks representing 6,000 years of history across the entire Asian continent, the collection is particular strong in artwork from Japan, Korea, China, India, and the Islamic world.
In the more than 80 years since the Denver Art Museum acquired its first piece of arts from Oceania, the total collection has grown to approximately 1,000 objects. These are broadly representative of the vast artistic heritage of Oceania, but the greatest strengths are in 20th century New Guinea art and 19th century Polynesian art.
Mayer Center, Department of Arts of the Ancient Americas
Spans nearly four millennia and includes examples of the artistry developed by communities throughout Mesoamerica, Central and South America, and the Caribbean and Southwestern United States.
Includes more than 3,000 paintings, sculptures, and prints, including the internationally renowned Berger Collection composed of mostly British paintings, drawings, medieval works of art, and a significant collection of French 18th and 19th century drawings.
Features over 18,000 objects by artists from over 250 Indigenous nations, encapsulating multiple artistic traditions from ancient times to the present. Collectively, these artworks comprise one of the strongest and most comprehensive collections of Indigenous art in the world.
Mayer Center, Department of Latin American Art
Totaling over 3,000 objects of works that represent the broad range of the artistic production from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Southwestern United States, it is the largest and most comprehensive collection of art produced in Latin America between the 1600s and the 1800s in the United States.
Boasting more than 7,000 artworks from 1900 to today, the modern and contemporary art collection includes representations of artworks from the School of Paris and Abstract Expressionism to contemporary internationally renowned artists from across the globe.
The photography department is recognized for its extensive holdings of landscape images from the American West, 1865-present. Collectively, these reflect both the achievements of outstanding artists and the shifting environmental attitudes of the last century and a half. The collection also has strong holdings of European and American modernist photography and of contemporary work.
Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion
The Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion encompasses over 5,000 objects from Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and range from archaeological textiles to contemporary works of art in fiber and fashion from the 18th century to today.
The Petrie Institute of Western American Art (PIWAA) oversees the western American art collection, which encompasses two centuries of paintings, sculptures, and works on paper related to the West. Additionally, PIWAA promotes scholarship in the field through exhibitions, annual symposia, and publications. As a result, we are able to tell a comprehensive story of American art in the West.
Image by James Florio Photography.
The Denver Art Museum campus consists of the Lanny & Sharon Martin Building, the Frederic C. Hamilton Building, and the Bannock Adminstration Building.