Denver Art In One Day - Page 4
Fourth Stop: The Big One
Denver Art Museum
www.denverartmuseum.org
100 W 14th Avenue Pkwy., Denver
(720) 865-5000
Admission: Adults: $13, Students/Seniors: $10, Youth (6-18): $5, Kids under 6: Free. (Note: Admission for Colo. residents is reduced)
Just past the Denver Public Library looms the Denver Art Museum’s stunning Hamilton Building, designed by Daniel Libeskind and completed in 2006. The building may be new, but it’s rapidly become an art world icon, thanks to its bold, jagged angles and metallic exterior. Libeskind’s design was inspired by the nearby Rocky Mountains and is clad in titanium and glass – during daylight hours, the building positively shimmers. Take some time to walk the perimeter of the Hamilton Building – it’s worth seeing from every possible angle. Near the entrance of the Hamilton Building are several pieces of giant-sized artworks, including the monumental sculptures Big Sweep (a 30-foot tall broom and dustpan) by Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg and Denver Monoliths by Beverly Pepper. The similarly huge Scottish Angus Cow and Calf by Dan Ostermiller is located just south of the Hamilton Building.
It would be tough to take in everything the DAM has to offer in just a few hours – plan ahead by exploring the museum’s comprehensive Web site, picking and choosing from the extensive collections. Fans of Western American art should head straight to level 2 of the Hamilton Building, which houses one of the largest collections of American West-themed art in the world, including work by masters such as Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, John Mix Stanley, and others. The crown jewel in the institute's collection is Charles Deas’s Long Jakes, Rocky Mountain Man, the single most influential image in Rocky Mountain iconography. Time-trip even further back in the pre-Columbian art collection on the North Building’s fourth floor featuring pieces from nearly every major culture in Mesoamerica, Central America, and South America. Or explore the DAM's extensive selection of Native American art.
Those looking for art of a more recent vintage should head to the Hamilton Building’s third and fourth levels, where DAM’s modern and contemporary art collection lives. Marvel at more than 4,500 works in a wide variety of media, with an emphasis on both internationally known and emerging artists. A new installation here is particularly striking: Sandy Skoglund’s Fox Games depicts an invasion of gray foxes, sculpted in clay and cast in polyester resin, within a restaurant. The foxes prowl on and around red tables in an entirely red room. It’s humorous and eerie all at once.
No matter where your journeys in DAM take you one thing’s for sure – the minute you leave, you’ll be planning your next visit.
Time Spent: 2-3 hours
Fifth Stop: Denver's Most Interesting Museum