Denver Art Museum

06/02/2026

Father's Day is a few weeks away! Check out our Father's Day gift guide for the art-loving man in your life! We're also offering free shipping today through June 7. Shop in-store or online here: https://bit.ly/4x4dMFz

Museum ticket not required to enter the shops at the DAM.

05/29/2026

Were you lucky enough to see the family of robins that decided to make “Argus,” the horse, their home this spring?

Nestled in the heart of one of the horses sculpted by Deborah Butterfield (), “Willy, Argus and Lucky” (1996-97), in the Kemper Courtyard outside the museum’s Martin Building, we are happy to announce that the baby birds and mother have moved on from the nest so our art conservation team was okayed to remove the empty nest and clean the sculpture.

Fun fact: this group of sculptures are actually made of painted and patinated bronze (not wood as they appear)!

We were lucky enough to chat with Aaron Burgess, Objects Conservator at the Denver Art Museum, about the process.
 
Artwork: Deborah Butterfield, “Willy, Argus, and Lucky,” 1996-97. Painted and patinated bronze. Denver Art Museum: Funds from the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation, UMB Bank Trustees, 1996.198.1-3. © Deborah Butterfield
 

05/27/2026

In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, we're highlighting artworks by Joanne Jung-eun Lee that were recently added to the collection of the Denver Art Museum!

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Joanne Jung-eun Lee is now based in San Francisco.

Read below to learn more about these artworks from Ji Young Park, National Museum of Korea Fellow of Korean Art at the Denver Art Museum:

Lee's works, "Embodiment (Materialized Memory)" and "Embodiment (Materialized Memory) 2," form a cohesive meditation on space as a layered site of object, time, and lived experience. Drawing from her experience of migration, Lee reconceives space not as a neutral physical setting but as a phenomenological field shaped by displacement, estrangement, adaptation, and endurance. At the center of each work is the recurring motif of the chair. Found across cultures and in both public and private environments, the chair functions as a universal object that mediates between personal narrative and collective history. In Lee’s paintings, the chair becomes both witness and archive—holding traces of absence, waiting, and human presence. Through subtle distortions of form and spatial ambiguity, it serves as a temporal marker, reflecting the instability of belonging and the layered condition of immigrant identity.

Please note, these artworks are not currently on view, but they will be installed in the museum's arts of Asia gallery in late June.

Learn more about our arts of Asia collection: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/collection/arts-asia

Image 1: Joanne Jung-eun LEE 이정은, "Embodiment (Materialize Memory)," 2025. Color on layered Korean mulberry paper (hanji) with traditional glue mixture (agyo), and paint-soaked thread; 51-1/4 x 19-3/4 in. © Joanne Jung-eun LEE 이정은. Image courtesy Joanne Jung-eun Lee. 2026.240

Image 2: Joanne Jung-eun LEE 이정은, "Embodiment (Materialize Memory 2)," 2025. Color on layered Korean mulberry paper (hanji) with traditional glue mixture (agyo), and paint-soaked thread; 51-1/4 x 19-3/4 in. © Joanne Jung-eun LEE 이정은. Image courtesy Joanne Jung-eun Lee. 2026.238

05/26/2026

Hear from John P. Lukavic, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Native Arts at the DAM, and local curator of “The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art.”

The exhibition, on view through July 26, brings over 130 works from the renowned National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne to the DAM, making it the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever presented in North America.

“The Stars We Do Not See” is the product of an unprecedented cultural partnership between the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Denver Art Museum is its second venue.

The exhibition will be on view at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon from September 5, 2026 through January 3, 2027, and at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts from February 27, 2027 through June 13, 2027.

Learn more and plan your visit: https://bit.ly/4aeJR2R

05/22/2026

The DAM is open this weekend during our regular hours, including Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, from 10am to 5pm!

General admission grants entry to the entire Denver Art Museum campus, including the Hamilton Building, Martin Building, and The Kirkland. General admission is always free for members and everyone 18 and under thanks to our Free for Kids program presented by Bellco Credit Union.

Each summer, we participate in the National Endowment for the Arts' Blue Star Museums initiative, which offers free admission to active duty military personnel and their families from Armed Forces Day (in May) through Labor Day (in September).

Plan your visit: https://bit.ly/3vy6zPT

Photo by James Florio Photography

05/21/2026

NEW EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT!

“Storytellers: The Blackfeet Nation & Charles M. Russell” will open at the DAM on September 6, 2026, and will be on view through January 24, 2027.

“Storytellers” features over 80 artworks including oil paintings, watercolors, and bronzes by Charles M. Russell and ancestral artworks from the Blackfoot Confederacy (Nitsitapii), especially the Kainai (Blood Tribe) and Amskaapii Pikanni (Blackfeet or South Peigan), from the late-19th to mid-20th centuries.

This milestone presentation is made possible by a landmark gift of masterworks from the collection of Tom and Jane Petrie, which significantly expands the DAM's western American art holdings. The gift includes some of Russell's most celebrated masterworks, both paintings and sculptures.

"Storytellers" puts ancestral Nitsitapii works from the museum's collection into dialogue with Russell’s representations of Blackfeet art and culture. Through these comparisons, the exhibition explores the deep spiritual connection to bison and the vital contributions of Blackfeet women, including excellent examples of beadwork, hide-tanning, and saddle making. Other areas focus on the roles of Blackfeet men as warriors and medicine men, revealing how Russell’s famous "Old West" scenes were built upon the real-world knowledge of his Indigenous mentors.

We are deeply grateful to the Amskaapii Pikannii (Blackfeet Nation) advisors who shared their knowledge and stories with us, and to Tom and Jane Petrie for supporting western American art at the DAM.

Storytellers is a traveling exhibition organized by the Denver Art Museum. Following the debut at the DAM, the exhibition will travel to the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. It is curated by JR Henneman. This exhibition will be included in general admission.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4nLgTxY

Image 1: Charles Marion Russell, "Piegans," 1918. Oil paint on canvas; 24 x 36 in. Planned Gift from Tom and Jane Petrie to the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Christina Jackson.

Image 2: Charles Marion Russell, "Buffalo Hunt, Number 40," 1919. Oil paint on canvas; 39 x 57 in. Planned Gift from Tom and Jane Petrie to the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Christina Jackson.

Image 3: Charles Marion Russell, "The Scout," 1915. Oil paint on canvas; 21 x 26 in. Planned Gift from Tom and Jane Petrie to the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Jeff Wells.

Image 4: Possibly Percy (Two Gun) Plain Woman (Káínai Nation (Blood Tribe), "War Robe," Late 1880s to Early 1900s. Deer hide and commercial pigment; 58 1/4 in. x 48 1/2 in. Denver Art Museum: Native Arts acquisition funds, 1938.260

Image 5: Nora Spanish (Amskaapii Pikanii, 1898–1990), "Pair of Gloves," 1940s. Leather and beads; Each approx. 18 × 8⅛ × 4¼ in. Denver Art Museum: Bequest of the Estate of Gerald E. Welsh, 1981.240A-B

05/18/2026

Happy International Museum Day! 🖼️

Celebrate today by exploring the Denver Art Museum! Experience Australian Indigenous art in "The Stars We Do Not See," blast off into "Space Is the Place," tap into your own creativity with hands-on artmaking in the Creative Hub and the Cosmic Studio, and SO much more. Visit denverartmuseum.org to see what is on view and to plan your visit.

Everything currently on view at the DAM is included in general admission, which is FREE for everyone 18 and under, as well as for museum members. Free for Kids is presented by Bellco Credit Union.

Did you know that DAM members receive reciprocal benefits? Through participation in several reciprocal networks, DAM members at the Family Plus level and above enjoy free general admission and special benefits at cultural institutions across North America.

05/16/2026

Each summer, we participate in the National Endowment for the Arts' Blue Star Museums initiative, which offers free admission to active duty military personnel and their families from Armed Forces Day (today, May 16) through Labor Day (in September).

Plan your visit to the DAM: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/plan-your-visit

Learn more and view the full list of participating museums: https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/blue-star-museums

05/15/2026

It's simple: visit the DAM, live a longer and healthier life. 😎

"We found in this study that 'arts engagement' was related to 4% slower aging rates, meaning people were about a year younger, biologically, if they were regularly engaged in the arts," researcher Daisy Fancourt explains.

Read (or listen to) the full article from NPR here: https://n.pr/4ttKSfb

Eat well and exercise. That's the classic advice for living a long, healthy life. A new study suggests another habit to add to the list: Let your creative juices flow.

05/14/2026

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with a free artist talk at the DAM!

Join the Arts of Asia department for a special conversation with Chicago-based artist Dabin Ahn on May 26, 6-7pm, led by curator Hyonjeong Kim Han (free to attend!). Be among the first to see the artist’s new work, “Repose,” now part of the museum’s permanent collection (pictured here).

Subtle and ultra-surreal, “Repose” almost appears photographic at first glance. Look closely and you’ll notice sparkling details that add a human touch, like traces of time, labor, or sweat on a historic celadon jar faintly suggested in the painting.

The work explores longing, nostalgia, family, and time. The two Korean characters through the eyeglasses are 'ah 아' and 'ppa 빠.' Appa 아빠 means dad in Korean. The eyeglasses and watch are depicted exactly like those of Dabin's father, who passed away in January of this year. Dabin's father, AHN Sung Ki was a respected, eminent actor in Korea. The painting was completed shortly before his death.

Through looking at this work, we invite you to reflect on time, relationships, memory, and yourself.

Get tickets to attend this free artist talk: https://bit.ly/4dEOndP

Artwork: Dabin Ahn 안다빈, "Repose," 2025. Oil paint and walnut on linen; 19 × 13 in. Denver Art Museum: Arts of Asia acquisition funds, 2026.241. Photos courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, New York.

Please note: this artwork is not currently on view.