600 Museum Way
Bentonville, Arkansas
Admission to museum and parking are free. Fee for temporary exhibition.
https://crystalbridges.org/
Opened in 2011.
Crystal Bridges is not in the immediate St. Louis area but being only a five-hour drive from here it is a popular museum destination for many St. Louis art lovers.
The name Crystal Bridges comes from two things: 1) a natural spring - Crystal Spring - that sits on the wooded property and feeds the museum ponds and 2) the bridges that make up a part of the museum design.
The artworks in the museum are mostly pieces purchased by Alice Walton or by the family foundation. On any given day about 15% of the 3000+-piece collection is on display. The Walton Family Foundation donated $1.2 billion towards the building construction and to support the purchases and operations. Another $20 million was donated by the Walmart Foundation to allow for free admission to the museum. The museum building is divided into five galleries; four permanent collection galleries that are arranged chronologically looping around one pond, and one exhibit area for the temporary exhibition gallery.
The first gallery contains Colonial to Early Nineteenth Century Art.
The museum brochure lists three must-see highlights in this gallery starting with Wild Turkey Cock, Hen and Young (1826) by the famous painter, naturalist, and ornithologist John James Audubon.
The second must-see is Kindred Spirits (1849) by Asher Brown Durand. Alice Walton purchased this painting for $35 million in 2005.
And the third highlighted art piece is this oil painting: George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait) (1797) by Gilbert Stuart. One look at this painting and you realize that it was Stuart's work that was used for George Washington's image on the one-dollar bill. The painting was bought for $8.1 million in 2005.
The museum has a second George Washington portrait (1780-1782), this one painted by Charles Willson Peale. Washington posed for this artist seven times. The painting was purchased for $6.2 million.
This Self-Portrait (1846) was done by Charles's son, Rembrandt Peale, and is in a small room devoted to the Peale family.
There are also a number of beautiful landscapes in the gallery. View of St. Louis was originally finished in 1832 but after the cathedral was built here two years later, the artist, Leon Pomarede, added the cathedral to his oil painting.
Winter Scene in Brooklyn (1820) was painted by Francis Guy.
Valley of the Catawissa in Autumn (ca. 1862) was painted by Thomas Moran when he was only 25 years old.
White, Yellow, Pink, and Red Roses (1877) is one of many rose paintings by George Cochran Lambdin.
There are a few sculptures in this gallery including Randolph Roger's marble Atala and Chactas (1854). This is one of the few pieces on display that is not owned by the museum.
Nestled among all the early art works in this gallery is a twentieth century piece - Bad Lawn (1998). Every item in this display was made from industrial materials by artist Roxy Paine.
The next gallery is Late Nineteenth Century Art.
In this gallery the three highlighted paintings include The Reader (1877) by Mary Cassatt.
It also includes The Return of the Gleaner (1867) which was painted by American artist Winslow Homer while working in France for one year. It was purchased for $2.2 million.
Professor Benjamin Howard Rand is the third of the highlighted paintings. Alice Walton purchased this Thomas Eakins painting for an estimated $20 million in 2007.
A second Eakins painting on display is Archbishop Frederick Wood (1877). It is marked as a New Acquisition.
James McNeill Whistler of Whistler's Mother fame painted The Chelsea Girl in 1884.
Every museum highlighting American art must have a Frederic Remington on display! Cowpuncher's Lullaby was painted in 1906.
Union Refugees (1865) was painted by George W. Pettit. 
World's Columbian Exposition (1894) painted by Theodore Robinson is a prime example of American impressionism.
Sentinel Rock, Yellowstone (1872) was painted by William Keith and purchased for $36,000 in 2012.
Sunset on the River (1867) was painted by George Inness and sold for almost $2 million in 2008.
The third gallery is Early Twentieth Century Art and again three works are highlighted.
First is Blackwell's Island (1928) which sold for over $19 million in 2013. The artist is Edward Hopper.
These are two Georgia O'Keeffe's oil paintings with the top painting, Small Purple Hills (1934), being the highlighted one. Below it, Feather and Brown Leaf (1935), was painted the next year. These paintings were part of a $30 million share collection that Crystal Bridges made with Fisk University.
The third highlighted painting is The Garbage Man (1944) by John Biggers. He was 19 years old when he painted it.
The statue The Bubble (1928) was made of bronze and glass by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth and is surrounded by paintings in this gallery.
To the right of the statue is The Lantern Barriers (1908), an image used on some of the museum merchandise. It was painted by Maxfield Parrish and was purchased for over $4 million in 2006.
Daylight at Russell's Corners (1944) was painted by George Copeland Ault. It sold for a little over $.5 million in 2015.
Alexander Calder, known for his mobiles, created Trois noirs sur un rouge in 1968.
George Segal created Depression Bread Line (1991) with plastic, wood, metal, and acrylic paint. Later this model was used to cast other copies in bronze. The figures are life-size. Recently it was on loan to the Smithsonian Museum in DC.
.
Maya Lin, the artist that created the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC, created this sculpture from recycled silver. Silver Upper White River (2015) is mounted on a wall in the north gallery bridge.
|
|
Can you tell what this Carl Oldenburg sculpture is? It is titled Alphabet in the Form of a Good Humor Bar and stands nearly 12 feet tall.
As part of this gallery there is a exhibition titled Animal Meet Human. Below are three of the art works.
Jamie Wyeth of the famous Wyeth family of artists did this water color and varnish painting, Cornflakes, in 1985.
These are six of the ten animals featured in From the Endangered Species Series (1983) painted by Andy Warhol.
And this is the three large panels - a total of 288 square feet -drawn by Adonna Khare in 2012. It is titled Elephants but in the close-ups below you can see that there are many, many animals in this detailed and fun piece of art.
The final permanent gallery is 1940's to Now.
There are five works of art highlighted in this gallery. The first is Norman Rockwell's well-known Rosie the Riveter (1943).
The second is an Andy Warhol creation, Coca-Cola (3), painted in 1962. It was purchased for over $57 million in 2013.
The third highlighted piece is a sculpture, Night Zag Wall (1969-1974), a black-painted wood piece by Louise Nevelson. It was purchased in 2008 for $350,500.
Untitled (1981) by Jean-Michel Basquiat was purchased for $26.4 million in 2012. The artist died in 1988 at age 27.
The fifth highlighted piece is a painting by Mark Rothko, No. 210/211 (Orange). It was purchased for an estimated $25 million.
A contemporary self-portrait room included this very lifelike three-dimensional Old Self: Portrait of an Artist As He Will (Not) Be. Variation #2 (2010) by Evan Penny.
Morris Louis painted Airborn in 1959. It is one of several contemporary pieces displayed that are fairly simple in my mind. In 2013 it sold for almost $1.7 million.
Tom Wesselmann's Smoker #9 (1973) is acrylic on linen.
This large sculpture was made in 2015 with shoelaces by Nari Ward and is titled We the People (black version).
Ruth Asawa created Untitled (ca. 1965-1970) with bronze wire.
Nancy Grossman used objects that looked like they came from a junkyard to create Car Horn (1965).
Donald Judd created Untitled, 1989 (Bernstein 89-24) in 1989 with copper and red Plexiglas. In 2013 Crystal Bridges purchased this stack tor $10.2 million.
In 1997-1998, David Bates created with painted wood Seated Man - Hyde Park.
In 1977 Duane Hanson created another Seated Man. Made of polyvinyl, oil, mixed media, and accessories, this man looks very realistic.
Dropped Bra (Big Maquette) is a sculpture of enamel on aluminum, created by Tom Wesselmann, ca. 1978-1980.
Eat Meat (1969/1975) is cast aluminum by Lynda Benglis.
Jim Dine used stainless steel and painted bronze to create Garden of Eden (2003).
The Tower (1957) by Robert Rauschenberg is made from many items! It stands almost nine feet tall!
Would you believe there is museum art that one can eat? "Untitled" (L.A.) was created in 1991 by Felix Gonzalez-Torres with fifty pounds of green candies. An endless supply allows candy to be added as it is eaten. This "pile of candy" was purchased for almost $7.7 million in 2015.
There are a few contemporary art pieces in the North Exhibition Gallery including John Cage Robot II (1995) by Nam June Paik, Among other electronic items this sculpture includes eleven televisions.
The grounds of the museum include 21 pieces of art. Standing over the front door is Yield (2011) made of welded and polished stainless steel by Roxy Paine. This sculpture was commissioned by the museum.
From above...
Standing guard over several entrances.
Two-Headed Figure (1986) by Keith Haring stands on a museum walkway. 
Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye Dome (1961) can be seen on the grounds from the building.
The Art Trail is one of six trails on the museum grounds and includes beautiful sculptures among well-groomed gardens. The first piece was inspired by 16th century tapestry. Kim Dickey created Mille-fleur (2011) and it includes 15,000 hand-painted ceramic flower forms.
This Cor-Ten steel version of Robert Indiana's celebrated LOVE image was fabricated in 1999 by the artist.
The statue Vaquero, made in the 1980's by Luis Alfonso Jiminez, sits in a beautifully landscaped garden.
There are several animal sculptures gracing the Art Trail. Stella (2009) is made of bronze by Andre Harvey.
Redstick (2007) is made of bronze with patina by Deborah Butterfield.
Shore Lunch (1999) is a bronze bear sculptured by Dan Ostermiller.
When we visited the museum, the temporary exhibit highlighted the works of Dale Chihuly.
Chihuly in the Gallery includes several types of glass works
starting with Cylinders, 2006-2016, blown glass.
Fire Orange Baskets, 2002-2013, blown glass
Rotolo, 2016, blown glass
Winter Brilliance, 2015 blown glass and steel
with colored lights added
Calendula Persians, 2017, blown glass
Venetians, 1988-2006, blown glass
Baskets, 1980-2008, blown glass
American Indian Trade Blankets from his collection of commercially produced blankets based on Native American tribal designs cover a long wall.
The Chihuly gift shop
Would you like to own your own Chihuly?
There are nine glass works of art in the Chihuly in the Forest exhibition. Chandeliers, 1996, blown glass and steel
Fiori Boat, 2016, blown glass and wooden boat
Red Reeds, 2014, blown glass
Belugas, 2017, blown glass
Sole D'Oro, 2017, blown glass and steel
Neodymium Reeds on Logs, 2014, blown glass
Turquoise Reeds & Ozark Fiori, 2012, blown glass
Boathouse 7 Neon, 2016, neon and acrylic
There are two Chihuly pieces in other areas of the museum grounds. Azure Icicler Chandelier, 2016, blown glass and steel, hangs in the Twentieth Century Gallery Bridge.
Niijima Floats, 2014, blown glass, float on Crystal Pond on the Art Trail.
The museum has a very popular restaurant called Eleven. Hanging above the tables is a sculpture titled It’s Hanging Heart (Gold/Magenta), by Jeff Koons. The heart is nearly ten-feet wide and weighs almost 3000 pounds.
The museum also includes a large store.
The Museum Store sells a large variety of gift and other items.
During our stay in Bentonville, we stayed at the local 21c Museum Hotel which was not only walking distance to the museum via the Art Trail but also just off the town square so thus also walking distance from the Walmart Museum and popular restaurants. It is a 104-room boutique hotel and contemporary museum all in one with wonderful service.
The museum aspect of the hotel is evident when you enter the lobby...
or walk to the elevators.
The restaurant, The Hive, has it's own recent art installation, resembling a hive called BuzzKill, 2017, by Johnston Foster.
This lobby sculpture Perfect From Now On by Amelia Biewald is constructed of chandeliers, blown glass, crystals, and wigs.
Outside the lobby is Orange Tree by Alexandre Arrechea.
And finally upon arriving you are greeted by Making Change, 2015, by Monica Mahoney.
Yes, the 1962 Fleetwood Cadillac limousine, is covered with coins, enough to add up exactly to $952, the amount that Wal-Mart saves every American household annually by influencing prices. And in case you did not know, 1962 is the year that Walmart was founded.
Comments:
We LOVE Crystal Bridges. What a magnificent art museum. The architecture is amazing, the grounds beautiful, and the collection impressive. With only 15% of the collection displayed at any one time I can definitely see returning multiple times.
One can visit all of the permanent galleries in less than three hours for sure - they even offer a brochure called "what to see if you have just an hour". Between those galleries, the temporary exhibit, the Art Trail and the gift shop we may have spent about five hours there spread over a Thursday afternoon and a Friday morning.
Also there is a Frank Lloyd Wright house on the grounds that was moved from New Jersey. You can do a self-guided tour for free or can pay $10 for a guided tour. We did not see it.
The staff (not sure how many were docents) are plentiful and full of information. They are very friendly and anxious to depart their knowledge about the art work. No matter in which gallery you are there is a staff member standing nearby ready to answer questions. The museum also offers free tours at designated times.
The parking is plentiful though some of it is on lots that require walking a bit or taking a shuttle. We took the shuttle once and it is fine.
Chihuly has been a huge draw. It is more crowded than the permanent galleries. Although the museum admission is free, the cost for this special exhibit is $24.
The restaurant has a outstanding reputation for great food. The museum store is great but pricey.
We loved 21c for its location, staff, and style. I would definitely stay there again.
We mostly agreed that it would have been nice to have gone for two nights. We did not have time to hike the five museum trails. did not see the FLW house, and we rushed through some of the galleries.
There is also a great children's museum as you turn to on the Crystal Bridges driveway: http://www.amazeum.org/
I can't wait return!
