The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Where art, architecture, and ideas meet. Fridays are free! "Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers" on view through September 27!
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The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is a leader in collecting, showing, and interpreting art from the 1940s to the present. Situated in the heart of the Cultural District, the creative center of the city, the Modern has been housed since 2002 in an elegant concrete, glass, and steel building designed by the renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. In addition to 53,000 square feet of soaring, light

-filled gallery space and landscaped grounds with outdoor sculptures, the museum features a reflecting pond, theater, elegant private event facilities, education center, gift shop, and café, creating a thriving hub for our community and beyond.

The Modern’s education department wrapped up the first week of summer art camp! These almost 5-year-olds enjoyed time in...
06/19/2026

The Modern’s education department wrapped up the first week of summer art camp! These almost 5-year-olds enjoyed time in the galleries and made masks inspired by the special exhibition “Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.”

Art campers explore art and architecture, followed by sessions in the museum studio where they work with two artists. The final day of camp concludes with a reception and exhibition of campers’ artwork, celebrating their creative accomplishments with family and friends. Through Art Camp at the Modern, campers make exciting discoveries about art, the world, and themselves.

Learn more about Art Camp and register your child for our remaining summer sessions today: https://www.themodern.org/summer-2026-art-camp-and-art-study

The Modern is closed on Friday, June 19 in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday.
06/18/2026

The Modern is closed on Friday, June 19 in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday.

Multi-disciplinary artist Jim Dine turns 91 today. His 1972 work “The Art of Painting” is on view now in the Modern’s fi...
06/16/2026

Multi-disciplinary artist Jim Dine turns 91 today. His 1972 work “The Art of Painting” is on view now in the Modern’s first-floor galleries.

In “The Art of Painting,” the viewer sees five tall panels coated in acrylic and enamel. At the center of four of the panels hangs an implement associated with painting: palette, metal shears, paintbrush, and miter box saw. Throughout his career, Dine has integrated objects into his art; tools are one of his signature motifs. Dine’s grandfather instilled in him a deep respect for working with one’s hands. By setting the tools of his trade across the surface of his installation, the artist emphasizes the hand labor and craft aspects of painting, proclaiming the idea of painter-as-worker. Dine also finds extraordinary beauty in a tool’s marriage of form and function. The objects in “The Art of Painting” exemplify the artist’s respect for tools as embodiments of identity, memory, history, labor, and beauty.
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Artwork: Jim Dine, “The Art of Painting,” 1972. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase, The Benjamin J. Tillar Memorial Trust

The Teen/Artist Project Exhibition Opening Reception was on Friday, June 5, where artwork by student participants of the...
06/15/2026

The Teen/Artist Project Exhibition Opening Reception was on Friday, June 5, where artwork by student participants of the Modern’s academic year-long program is on view now.

The Teen/Artist Project (TAP) is a free, ongoing program in which the Museum partners with regional and national artists to expand the art practice and knowledge of aspiring student artists. High school students are selected to participate via a portfolio and application process. Students are required to make a firm commitment to attend class regularly, participate in class discussions and group projects, and ultimately contribute work for the TAP exhibition and catalogue at the close of each season.

Plan ahead to visit the Pool Gallery to see this exhibition through June 30, by appointment only. The Pool is located in the Near Southside neighborhood at Everly Plaza, 1801 8th Ave, Fort Worth. Reach out to Jesse Morgan Barnett, the Modern’s assistant curator of education, at [email protected] to schedule a visit.

The staff at the Modern mourns the passing of British artist David Hockney (1937–2026).The Modern’s 1960 painting by Hoc...
06/12/2026

The staff at the Modern mourns the passing of British artist David Hockney (1937–2026).

The Modern’s 1960 painting by Hockney titled “Adhesiveness” is considered a breakthrough, with the painter stating that “’Adhesiveness’ is the first really serious painting I’d done; it is my first painting to begin to have precision.”

Hockney’s painting is an homage to the American poet Walt Whitman. It belongs to a group of Hockney’s early works known as the “love” paintings, which feature highly abstracted human forms accompanied by words, letters, and numerals that act as signposts to the images’ content. The title refers to the phrenological term “adhesiveness” that Whitman used to describe friendship and love among men. In the 1960s, Hockney began to allude to his homosexuality in his work, and the symbols he included in the composition were clues to this aspect of his life. Whitman, too, was gay, and in “Adhesiveness,” Hockney borrowed a childlike code to disguise initials that the poet himself had used, substituting each letter with its numeric order in the alphabet to identify one figure as himself (4.8. for D.H.) and the other as Whitman (23.23. for W.W.).
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Artwork: David Hockney, “Adhesiveness,” 1960. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase © David Hockney

We’re excited to kick off the summer of soccer in the US! The first World Cup 2026 game in the DFW metroplex is on Sunda...
06/12/2026

We’re excited to kick off the summer of soccer in the US! The first World Cup 2026 game in the DFW metroplex is on Sunday. Throughout the tournament, the Modern is displaying a notable painting by Californian artist Jess (1923–2004), featuring a symbolic soccer game. Acquired by the Modern in 1996, the artwork is now on view in the museum’s Grand Lobby, where it can be seen free of charge.

In “Montana Xibalba: Translation #2,” 1963, the second work in the artist’s Translation series, Jess reproduced a photograph of a soccer game from a college yearbook he found in a second-hand shop. The image reminded him of an ancient Mayan cosmological myth in which the birth of the sun and the moon resulted from a ball game between two earthly heroes and the Lords of Xibalba, a realm akin to Hades. In Jess’s painting, the yellow ball represents the sun while the athletes portray the heroes. “Montana Xibalba: Translation #2” elicits feelings of play, camaraderie, and team pride, all of which today’s soccer fans experience with every match.
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Artwork: Jess, “Montana Xibalba: Translation #2,” 1963. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase, The Friends of Art Endowment Fund

06/10/2026

The Modern’s Chief Curator Andrea Karnes discusses the “vesica piscis” motif often found in artworks by Rashid Johnson. The exhibition “Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers” is on view at the Modern through September 27. Plan your visit today!

Hauser & Wirth

Join us this Friday, June 12 at 6 pm for a free performance by Fort Worth musician Lia Graham! This performance is pre...
06/09/2026

Join us this Friday, June 12 at 6 pm for a free performance by Fort Worth musician Lia Graham!

This performance is presented in partnership with Amplify 817, Hear Fort Worth, and sponsored in part by the Fort Worth Public Library Foundation, as part of our shared commitment to celebrating and showcasing local music for everyone’s enjoyment. Graham is a singer/songwriter known for her heartbreaking lyrics and unique melodies. Drawing inspiration from classic rock and indie folk, Lia's music comes from a place of emotion and honesty. Recorded and produced locally, she hopes her songs find you exactly at the right time and place.

Throughout the run of the special exhibition “Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers,” a site-specific stage located in front of the Modern’s auditorium features both programmed performances and spontaneous activations. To learn more about upcoming “Stage” performances, visit https://www.themodern.org/rashid-johnson-stage-performances

06/05/2026

Included in the gallery next to the special exhibition “Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers,” visitors will find a slideshow featuring work by middle school students from the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD), created in collaboration with the Modern’s Education department.

Inspired by Rashid Johnson’s early explorations in photography and his “Anxious Men” series, students used drawing exercises, writing prompts, and cyanotype photographic processes to reflect on their own experiences of anxiety and self-care. Their works speak to the realities of anxiety during the middle-school years with honesty, vulnerability, and creativity.

Johnson has described his own middle-school years as a formative time for creative exploration, a perspective he revisits now as the father of a fourteen-year-old son, navigating this pivotal stage between youth and early adulthood.

The Modern’s staff extends our sincere thanks to FWISD and to the students and educators at McLean Middle School, Riverside Middle School, Rosemont Middle School, Young Men’s Leadership Academy, and Young Women’s Leadership Academy for their partnership and thoughtful contributions.

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3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, TX
76107

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Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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