Must-See Art & Museum Exhibitions

Discover why The Mile High City is the place to be when it comes to incredible arts and culture. You'll see blockbuster museum exhibitions on a rotating basis at world-class cultural institutions. For people with disabilities and their caregivers, see the accessibility information.

This Month | Film & Planetarium | Long-Running Exhibitions | Coming Soon

Blockbuster Exhibitions

The Tangled Self

WHEN: Now on View
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Created by Colorado artist Sadie Young with collaborators from Spectra Art Space, The Tangled Self attempts to make our inner monsters more approachable, asking us to reflect on the question: Why is it sometimes easier to see the negative parts of the self instead of embracing the positive? Step inside the enormous mouths of towering monsters, dodge playful tube creatures, and discover hidden and unexpected surprises in this colorful yarn and fiber-based installation. The "inner monsters" of the shadow self—feelings like rage, grief, fear, and shame—are tamed as viewers are invited to face and embrace these emotions as part of healing.

Vanity & Vice: American Art Deco

WHEN: Now on View
WHERE: Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum
Vanity & Vice: American Art Deco explores the dynamic designs that emerged during the rebellious years of 1920–1933. This exhibition invites visitors into two distinct spaces occupied by a progressive Prohibition-era woman: her boudoir and a speakeasy. Explore the Art Deco objects that filled these rooms and how they reflect a time of freedom and change. American women were enjoying more independence inside and outside the home. Cutting hair into a chic bob, wearing rouge on lips and cheeks, hosting cocktail parties, and publicly consuming alcohol and tobacco all reinforced what it meant to be a modern woman. American designers and manufacturers responded to these societal changes with fashionable perfume atomizers and vanity sets and drinking and smoking accessories in the latest styles.

What We’ve Been Up To: Landscape

WHEN: Thru Jan. 4, 2026
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
What We’ve Been Up To: Landscape is a unique selection of photographs from the museum's collection that have never been shown to the public. Featuring acquisitions from the past 17 years since the Photography department was established in 2008, the exhibition represents the variety of ways landscape photographs help us see and appreciate other times and places and consider where the world has been and what it is becoming. All are bound together by the idea that landscape can serve as an autobiography of the people, societies, and natural forces that shape the world over time.

Water, Water on the Wall, You’re the Fairest of Them All

WHEN: Thru Feb. 15, 2026
WHERE: MCA Denver
Presenting works in a range of mediums — including sculpture, photography, drawing, and bookmaking — Roni Horn’s solo exhibition is the first to focus exclusively on the concept of water. Including signature works from her oeuvre, such as You are the Weather, Part 2 (2010 – 11), a series of 100 photographs of a woman submerged in various geothermal pools across Iceland; a series of never-before-exhibited cast glass sculptures, whose reflective surfaces allude to a pool of water; and books from To Place, an ongoing series of encyclopedic publications initiated in 1989, which address the artist’s relationship between identity and place. 

The Secret World of Elephants

WHEN: Oct. 24, 2025–Jan. 25, 2026
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Enter The Secret World of Elephants to discover the remarkable science behind nature’s most lovable giants. How do elephants “hear” with their feet? What animals are their closest living relatives? How have elephants and humans coexisted for thousands of years? Through hands-on interactions, you will feel the low-frequency rumbles elephants use to communicate, explore how they reshape their environments and come face-to-face with some of their ancestors, including dwarf elephants. From the ancient Ice Age to the African savanna, get ready to be amazed by elephants’ incredible intelligence and fascinating history—and inspired to help protect their future.

“Tell Clyfford I Said ‘Hi’”: An Exhibition Curated by Children of the Colville Confederated Tribes

WHEN: Thru May 10, 2026
WHERE: Clyfford Still Museum
The exhibition is co-curated with youth from the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State. It highlights the perspectives of Colville children on Clyfford Still’s depictions of their ancestors and their home, as well as his abstract works. Installed in all nine of the museum’s galleries, the exhibition investigates six themes identified by the co-curators: Family & Culture, Connection, Imagination, the Outside, Love, and Paint & Color.

This Month

The 90s: Last Decade Before the Future

WHEN: Thru Oct. 26, 2025
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Step back into the 1990s, a decade marked by cultural shifts and technological breakthroughs. Recall memorable moments as you walk through the defining events from this pivotal era. Revel in 90s nostalgia as you explore its technological innovations, vintage fashion and iconic toys and gadgets. Featuring a treasure trove of artifacts from influential actors, musicians, athletes and politicians, The 90s: Last Decade Before the Future brings this transformative decade to life, inviting reflection on its lasting impact on today's world.

Confluence of Nature: Nancy Hemenway Barton

WHEN: Thru Nov. 30, 2025
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Confluence of Nature: Nancy Hemenway Barton features 12 textile wall sculptures and five works on paper by artist Nancy Hemenway Barton, each an exploration of the stunning locations from around the world that informed and inspired her artistic process. Hemenway, a multidisciplinary artist, found her voice as she traveled the world, experiencing rich colorful cultural traditions from the Andean weavers in Bolivia to appliquéd textiles by the Fon in Benin. She described these cultural traditions as natural art. Between 1966 and 1997, Hemenway created large-scale wall reliefs made from hand-loomed fabrics, primarily sourced from indigenous weaving communities, where she had lived and worked. Barton folded, tucked and embroidered her fabrics to create richly textured abstract works that reflected her deep connection to the natural world.

Gallery Uno: Catawampus

WHEN: Thru Dec. 31, 2025
WHERE: Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus
Deep in the heart of the Children’s Museum, there is a world where nothing is quite as it seems. If you dare to grab a lantern and step through the threshold, you will find yourself in a realm full of curious creatures and unexpected environments…You’ve entered Catawampus!

Legacies: Invertebrates of Mexico Exhibit  

WHEN: Thru Dec. 31, 2025
WHERE: Butterfly Pavilion
Legacies: Invertebrates of Mexico at Butterfly Pavilion explores these incredible creatures’ influence on Mesoamerican traditions and the vital role invertebrates play in both nature and human history. Included in general admission, this interactive exhibit features fascinating live species like tarantulas, millipedes, leafcutter ants and immersive experiences with lush soundscapes and natural scents to transport visitors into Mexico’s diverse ecosystems.

Horizon: On the Plains with John Fielder

WHEN: Thru Jan. 1, 2026
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Horizon: On the Plains with John Fielder is a new exhibition that features a selection of iconic large-format prints by Colorado’s most celebrated nature photographer. These prints evoke the photographer's emotional connection to these sublime and diverse landscapes of Colorado and invite viewers to lose themselves in the expanse of the Great Plains.

Shiki Dreams

WHEN: Thru Jan. 2, 2026
WHERE: Colorado Mills, Lakewood
Shiki Dreams by Prismajic is an award-winning immersive art installation. After showing up for your time slot and watching a short introductory video, you are given a magic flashlight to explore the real and dream worlds of Shiki, the magical yeti. Sites, smells, sounds and more surround the explorer while navigating the first installment of this zen experience. Family friendly, the environment encourages the explorer to search for red butterflies, frogs and snails. While doing so, you will find treasures of all kinds.

Rosas y Revelaciones

WHEN: Oct. 16, 2025–Jan. 11, 2026
WHERE: Museo de las Americas
Since 1531, the Virgin of Guadalupe has shaped Mexico’s culture and art. Textile artist Linda Hanna commissioned artisans to create garments inspired by their faith. This exhibition highlights Mexico’s rich textile traditions and the Virgin’s enduring influence.

The Bombing of United 629

WHEN: Thru Feb. 8, 2026
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Created in collaboration with the Denver Police Museum, The Bombing of United 629 explores the enduring legacy of this tragic event while serving as a tribute to all who were lost. Having occurred 70 years ago, the bombing of United 629 was the first confirmed case of sabotage against a commercial airliner in the U.S. The subsequent investigation set new standards for forensic science in crash investigations, revealing that John Gilbert Graham planted dynamite in his mother’s suitcase. This tragedy not only led to a landmark ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which allowed the trial to be televised and paved the way for greater media access to courtrooms nationally, but also prompted stricter passenger safety policies for air travel.

The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism

WHEN: Oct. 26, 2025–Feb. 8, 2026
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism is the first major U.S. retrospective of Camille Pissarro, known as "the first impressionist," in more than 40 years. A versatile artist, Pissarro embodied the role of insider, contributing to the establishment of Impressionism as a coherent avant-garde phenomenon while maintaining his artistic independence as he eschewed his peers’ choice of upper-class subject matter to depict scenes of the mundane. The Honest Eye reflects this dichotomy, while selections from Pissarro’s letters provide insights into his artistic process and worldview more broadly.

The Disappearance of Thomas Riha

WHEN: Thru March 15, 2026
WHERE: History Colorado Center
CU Boulder Russian history professor Thomas Riha vanished on March 15, 1969. He’s never been found. Was it the FBI? The CIA? Russian intelligence? Or a mysterious woman who left a trail of lies in her wake? The Disappearance of Thomas Riha invites you to investigate this unique Colorado cold case. Riha vanished during the Cold War, raising questions about possible links to international espionage. For the first time, see original documents, photos, and artifacts from key suspects and intelligence agencies relating to Riha’s disappearance. From Boulder and Washington, DC, to Moscow and Prague, History Colorado Center asks you to dig into the files and examine the evidence. What do you think happened to Thomas Riha?

Agave: Symbol and Spirit

WHEN: Thru March 22, 2026
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Agave: Symbol and Spirit tells the story of the plant’s many practical and spiritual uses, past and present, revealing its deep roots in Mexican culture. From fiber for clothing, building materials and paper, to fermented drinks for ritual (and recreational) purposes, the many uses of agave span millennia—immerse yourself in the surprising influences of this versatile plant. Artworks in the exhibit are on loan from the Museo de las Americas, Denver.

Xochimilco: Works by Eduardo Robledo Romero

WHEN: Oct. 11, 2025–March 22, 2026
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Eduardo Robledo Romero’s artworks highlight the complex ties that bind Mexican culture to the natural world through both Indigenous and European beliefs. Robledo’s artworks draw on cultural traditions from his hometown of Xochimilco, Mexico, as well as his own personal experiences to explore the spiritual power of plants, animals and the endless natural cycles of birth and death. 

Ms. Destiny

WHEN: Thru March 29, 2026
WHERE: Center for Colorado Women's History
Throughout history, Colorado women have forged opportunity out of scarcity as they created lives they desired. Ms. Destiny highlights the stories of seven unique and resilient Colorado women who took fate into their hands, overcame barriers and defined their realities. Through the lenses of relationship, financial access and occupation, and presentation, Ms. Destiny explores the self-determination and tenacity of women in the Centennial State.

Expedition 1776

WHEN: Thru April 12, 2026
WHERE: History Colorado Center
In 1776, two Franciscan priests named Domínguez and Escalante set out from Santa Fe into territory unknown, lands claimed by Spain but controlled by the Tribes who called it home. With Indigenous guides and the help of Native tribes, the Padres and their party of 12 navigated harsh terrain, mapped vital trade routes, and documented Native cultures that had thrived in the region for centuries before Europeans arrived. Carefully selected artifacts, accounts from Escalante’s journal, and stunning landscape photographs will invite visitors to retrace the journey. 

Guest of Honor: Rembrandt

WHEN: Thru Feb. 6, 2027
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
A masterpiece by Rembrandt van Rijn titled A Woman Holding a Pink and an additional portrait of Rembrandt, likely painted by his studio, are on view in the European Art Before 1800 galleries (on the 6th level of the museum’s Martin Building) as part of the National Gallery’s “Across the Nation” program. The collaboration, which brings some of the most important and beloved works of art to communities across the country, is part of the NGA’s program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America in 2026. 

Catalysts

WHEN: Thru March 1, 2027
WHERE: Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex
The Denver Theatre District (DTD) presents Catalysts, a community artwork by renowned British-American artist Jann Haworth. Catalysts features a collage of 34 stenciled portraits of behind-the-scenes individuals who are integral to the success and vibrancy of Denver arts and culture, as selected by participating arts organizations. Each participating arts organization selected an honoree to be recognized and submitted an essay highlighting their remarkable contributions. See it on the side of the Buell Theatre on Champa Street between 13th Street and 14th Street.

A Century of Art in Latin America

WHEN: Thru June 15, 2027
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
From soaring mountains and scorching deserts to sprawling forests and splendid beaches, Latin America is a vast place. As a concept, it tries to contain cultures and landscapes with millennia of differing histories under one name. Works that artists from Latin America created during the 20th and current 21st century showcase a range of practices as complex as the places they call home. While previous exhibitions have centered around a single art movement, such as Surrealism or Abstraction, A Century of Art in Latin America offers a broader and more inclusive exploration of the rich and varied artistic trends across the region, encompassing an array of styles, time periods, nationalities and mediums, and presenting a comprehensive survey of Latin American art throughout the past 100 years.

Film & Planetarium

'Animal Kingdom 3D'

WHEN: Thru Nov. 27, 2025 
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Go on a wild adventure to celebrate what makes our natural world so spectacular. Through brilliant nature footage, the film introduces a wide cast of characters — cute penguins, wise elephants and quirky dung beetles — from the mightiest families of the animal kingdom. Travel across frozen snowy forests, under the scorching African sun and into the darkest depths of the ocean to find out why animals are the way they are.

Long-Running & Permanent Exhibitions

The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever

WHERE: History Colorado Center
The Sand Creek Massacre was the deadliest day in Colorado’s history, and it changed the Cheyenne and Arapaho people forever. At sunrise on November 29, 1864, the U.S. Army attacked a camp of mostly women, children and elders on Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. The soldiers murdered more than 230 peaceful people. This exhibition tells the history of that betrayal from the perspectives of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal representatives, drawn from oral histories passed down for generations. Cheyenne and Arapaho people continue living with the unresolved trauma the massacre left behind. For many Cheyenne and Arapaho people, the Sand Creek Massacre isn’t just history, it’s family history.

Colorado Stories

WHERE: History Colorado Center
From the mountains to the plains to the plateaus, Colorado’s people are as diverse as the places they call home. Colorado Stories is a community-based suite of exhibits with media- and artifact-rich galleries exploring the many ways Coloradans have created community. 

Denver A to Z

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Denverites know that the Mile High City is like no other on Earth. But what really makes Denver Denver? Denver A to Z taps into the essence of Denver letter by letter—“A” for adrenaline, “Z” for zombies, and everything in between. Discover the heart, the art, the whimsy, and the energy of Denver’s people, places, and moments in this lighthearted and immersive exhibit.

Destination Colorado

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Welcome to Keota, Colorado: the Arcadia of the Plains. It’s 1918 and the American Dream awaits. This High Plains community’s residents greet you at the depot on life-sized media screens and show you their town, sharing triumphs and challenges. Meet the people who homesteaded and settled this watering stop along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy rail line—the “Prairie Dog Express.” Residents farmed, built a school, and cheered their sports teams with passion, but prairie life was never easy. Enroll in Keota’s high school. Shop from a Montgomery Ward catalog and buy goods from a general store. Take a virtual joy ride down a bumpy country road in a Model T and get cultured on outhouse culture! Milk a model cow, collect eggs in the barn, and climb into the hayloft and slide back down again.

Borderlands of Southern Colorado

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Presented in English and Spanish, Borderlands explores the shifting geopolitical history of southern Colorado. This area framed by mountains and rivers is naturally conducive to unique and resilient forms of cultural connection. An international border crossed over the people in this region, changing their lives forever, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved a portion of the US–Mexico border from the Arkansas River—which flows through the middle of Colorado—down to the Rio Grande in 1848.

Living West

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Colorado’s environment has shaped human history. At the same time, people’s choices have shaped the land. Journey into the deep relationships between Colorado's people and its land through three stories: life at Mesa Verde 800 years ago, the 1930s Dust Bowl on the southeastern plains, and today’s Rocky Mountains.

Forty Years on the ’Fax

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Take a nostalgic ride down Colfax, with stops at the quirky and memorable places that gave the street its worldwide reputation. From its birth as US Highway 40 in 1926 until I-70 diverted traffic away from it in the ’60s, “America’s Main Street” boomed with tourist attractions. See relics from the glory days of “America’s longest, wickedest street,” like neon signs from Across the Street Cafe and Sid King’s Crazy Horse Bar, matchbooks from hundreds of famous businesses, and menus, glasses, and dishware from restaurants Denverites dined in for decades. Guest curated by Jonny “the Velvet Elvis” Barber, Forty Years on the ’Fax features objects from the Colfax Museum collection. 

What's Your Story?

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Each of us is on a journey toward making a difference. Come explore your superpower and those of Coloradans past, present, and future. Find out how they made an impact on our state, whether by fighting school segregation or being a world-class athlete. See how your experience compares to the challenges and opportunities faced by generations of Coloradans before you. Through one-of-a-kind multimedia experiences, you and your friends can tell the world what’s important to you, and share it on the big screen for all to see. 

Written on the Land

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Hear the story of Colorado’s longest continuous residents, told in their own voices. Take a journey to iconic Colorado places the Ute people call home. You’ll see traditional arts, gorgeous photography, and contemporary video showing how Ute people have adapted and persevered through the centuries. Witness the tragic loss of Ute homelands and see efforts to keep Ute culture and language alive today.

Zoom In

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Zoom in on 100 powerful artifacts to see how Colorado became Colorado. Culled from the vast collections of History Colorado, every object on view had a role in shaping our state—from the age of the Paleoindians to Jack Swigert’s Apollo 13 flight suit and beyond.

The Civil War Monument "On Guard"

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Lonnie Bunch, the first African American and first historian to serve as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said, “what you really want to do is use the statues as teachable moments. Some of these need to go. But others need to be taken into a park, into a museum, into a warehouse, and interpreted for people, because they’re part of our history."

Makerspace

WHERE: History Colorado Center
History Colorado's hands-on Makerspace welcomes all museum visitors at no extra charge. Designed for safety and fun, guests of all ages can explore Denver’s built environment through a variety of hands-on activities.

Sustained! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Sustained! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art explores how Indigenous peoples’ resilience, diversity and creativity have sustained them throughout time. The exhibition centers Indigenous voices, perspectives and artistic expressions past and present, and is a celebration of Indigenous contributions to the arts and the museum over the past 100 years. The exhibition was developed in conjunction with a panel of seven Indigenous community members who, through a series of meetings, shared with the museum’s Native Arts curatorial team what type of exhibition would be meaningful to themselves and their communities. 

The 19th Century in European and American Art

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This exhibition features mostly French paintings and, in particular, landscapes. This is not accidental, as Paris became the art center of Europe during the 1800s, and landscape, once considered among the least prestigious genres in painting for its lack of moral content, flourished as one of the most expressive and collected subjects.

Ink & Thread 

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Ancient painter-scribes in Mesoamerica recorded histories, genealogies and prophecies in the pages of painted manuscripts known as codices. Ink & Thread: Codices and the Art of Storytelling explores the visual language of both ancient American codices and contemporary examples by Mexican artist Enrique Chagoya. Like the ancient examples, Chagoya’s codices feature superheroes, offer histories of conquest and survival through a wry, tongue-in-cheek lens. Chagoya’s codices, along with graphic interventions by Eric Garcia, reclaim and amplify this ancient tradition for contemporary audiences. The gallery additionally features the Tillett Tapestry of the Conquest of Mexico by British-American textile designer Leslie Tillett, a monumental work that replicates scenes from surviving Central Mexican and Maya codices and recounts the Conquest of Mexico. A recent gift of Tillett’s preparatory studies provides rare insight into his extensive research process.

Arts of Africa Gallery

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Arts of Africa gallery showcases highlights from the museum’s collection, which encompasses about 800 objects, largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, across media—including painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and jewelry, as well as recent acquisitions of contemporary art. The updated presentation, spanning 2,300 square feet on level 4 of the Hamilton Building, centers a collection that illustrates the diversity, relevance, and dynamism of creativity and culture across Africa. The gallery presents an expansive and inclusive view of the arts from the African continent with works from the sub-Sahara, Egypt and North Africa organized around three anchoring themes: the self, power and transformation, and manifestation.

Arts of Asia Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Asian art collection encompasses rare and important artworks from East Asia (China, Korea and Japan), South and Southeast Asia, and Central and West Asia. Its holdings of some 7,000 objects span nearly six millennia, from prehistoric to contemporary art. The collection boasts strengths in Chinese textiles from the Qing dynasty, South and Southeast Asian sculpture, ceramics from across the region, East Asian bamboo art, Japanese Edo period painting and twentieth-century prints. The reimagined galleries showcase a breathtaking display of over 800 artworks collectively tracing visible and invisible links across time and space in the arts of Asia.

Arts of the Ancient Americas Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The breadth of these collections, among the most comprehensive in the United States, encompass more than 1,000 rare works that present the expansive history of artistic creation in Latin America over 3,500 years of art and culture, revealing trends, relationships and discontinuities between art created in the region. This reinstallation focuses on three major geographic zones: Mesoamerica, Central America and the Andes. While the collection primarily focuses on objects produced prior to the arrival of Europeans, the gallery incorporates several contemporary works that engage with ancient practices and materials, highlighting connections between past and present.

European Art before 1800 Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Davis W. Moore Galleries dedicate nearly 7,000 square feet to European Art before 1800, featuring approximately 65 works drawn from the museum’s collection of European art to present a chronological history through major themes. The installation traces the development of stylistic themes as they evolved over time, from the golden surfaces of Christian altarpieces of the 1300s and 1400s, to the grand and dramatic portraits of the 1600s, and the ideal landscapes of the late 1700s. The new gallery presentation is enhanced by the inclusion of select works from the Berger Collection, a group of notable British artworks gifted to the museum in 2018 by the Berger Collection Educational Trust.

Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Encompassing 16,000 square feet across two floors, the newly installed Modern and Contemporary Art galleries feature selections from the museum’s collection of approximately 7,000 artworks made between 1900 and today, as well as from collecting areas in African arts, Indigenous arts of North America, Latin American art, photography and textile art and fashion. Showcasing artists from around the globe, the reinstall looks anew at the work of historically recognized figures, established contemporary artists and important emerging voices. Organized by theme rather than chronology, the reinstallation acknowledges and transcends art historical movements, showcasing visual connections and common interests.

Northwest Coast and Alaska Native Art Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Northwest Coast and Alaska Native arts collection is on view in a reimagined, immersive gallery space that showcases works by Indigenous artists from the western coastal region of North America, stretching from Puget Sound to southeastern Alaska. Featuring more than 80 objects, the gallery presents a range of artists and creative histories from the region, emphasizing individual artists as creators while also tracing the ongoing continuum and dynamic innovation of Indigenous artists into the present day. Expanding upon this approach, visitors have the opportunity to explore several spaces that highlight the communities and places that ground artists and their practices.

Indigenous Arts of North America Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum dedicates more than 20,000 square feet of gallery space to its unparalleled Indigenous Arts of North America collection. Featuring more than 18,000 objects ranging from ancient Puebloan and Mississippian ceramics to 19th-century beaded garments and carved masks to cutting-edge contemporary paintings, sculpture, photography and variable media art, the DAM holds one of the most comprehensive collections from this region in existence—with particular strengths in art from the Plains and the Southwest, as well as works from the Great Lakes, Northeast and Subarctic regions.

Latin American Art Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Latin American Art gallery offers insights into more than five centuries of the shared stories of conquered and conquerors, and the arts that originated from a colonial situation of great complexity, featuring more than 3,000 works from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Southwestern United States. Meanwhile, the John and Sandy Fox Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art gallery is dedicated to the museum’s acquisitions of modern and contemporary Latin American art, bridging the cultural narratives of the present and future and portraying a region in constant evolution.

Western American Art Galleries

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Western American Art galleries are a culmination of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art’s ambitious program and strategy. The Petrie Institute’s collection of Western American art has particular strengths in the Taos Society of Artists, Early Modernism, and 19th-century bronze sculpture. Today, it stands as one of the finest collections of its kind and, because of its unique location in the Rocky Mountain West, allows the Denver Art Museum to tell the story of American art from a Western perspective

Perfectly Imperfect: Korean Buncheong Ceramics

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Sophisticated, playful and engaging, buncheong ceramics became a uniquely Korean art form in the late 14th to 16th centuries. Elements of the buncheong style have remained relevant in modern and contemporary Korean art and have influenced other artistic expressions. Its refined and rustic aesthetic has been admired by generations of potters and artists in Korea and across the world. Co-organized with the National Museum of Korea (NMK), this exhibition features more than 70 exquisite works of Korean Buncheong ceramics from the 15th century to today, renowned for their white slip and adorned with diverse surface decorative techniques. It also includes four 20th- and 21st-century paintings as well as 16 drawings by five painters.

Gio Ponti: Designer of a Thousand Talents

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Gio Ponti was one of the most inventive Italian architects and designers of his time. For more than 60 years, Ponti’s exuberant approach found expression in public and private commissions from buildings, interiors, and furniture to glass, ceramics and flatware. In 1928, Ponti founded the magazine Domus, and through its pages, he influenced international design for over 50 years. These diverse and prolific achievements led to Ponti’s hiring in 1965, at the age of 74, to collaborate with Denver-based James Sudler Associates on the design of a new building for the Denver Art Museum. Gio Ponti: Designer of a Thousand Talents showcases objects from the museum's Architecture and Design collection. This collection encompasses one of the most preeminent modern and contemporary design collections of any comprehensive museum in the U.S., featuring a broad range of design practices, including architecture, furniture and industrial and graphic design.

Ink & Thread: Codices and the Art of Storytelling

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Ancient painter-scribes in Mesoamerica recorded histories, genealogies and prophecies in the pages of painted manuscripts known as codices. Ink & Thread explores the visual language of both ancient American codices and contemporary examples by Mexican artist Enrique Chagoya. Like the ancient examples, Chagoya’s codices feature superheroes, offer histories of conquest and survival through a wry, tongue-in-cheek lens.

Painting in the Andes

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
During the colonial period in the Andes, five main centers of artistic production flourished: Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Cuzco and Potosí. Featuring works from historic DAM collections as well as loans from the extensive collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Painting in the Andes explores these regional schools as they reached their apex of creativity and innovation from the late 1600s to the late 1700s. Influenced by a blend of European and Indigenous artistic traditions, these schools produced vibrant and distinctive styles of painting that continue to captivate audiences today.

Wildlife Halls

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
From Alaska to Argentina, Africa to Australia, more than 90 wildlife and habitat scenes illustrate our planet's amazing diversity as animals big and small come to life in exquisitely detailed dioramas that transport you around the world. Like three-dimensional "postcards" from places near and far, they capture moments in time, showcasing the world's wondrous animals and the delicate ecosystems in which they live.

Egyptian Mummies

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Explore the lives and deaths of two female mummies on display in the Egyptian Mummies gallery. An interactive touch table digitally unwraps the mummies and allows you to focus on key features. You will also see an exhibit about animal mummies, including a baby crocodile mummy once presumed to be empty. Tomb artifacts, a model of an Egyptian temple, and a facial reconstruction of one of the women’s skulls round out the exhibition.

Expedition Health

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Expedition Health is about YOUR human body and how it is constantly changing and adapting in ways you can see, measure and optimize through the choices you make. In the exhibition gallery, you will experience highly personalized activities, become immersed in a theater experience that engages all of your senses, look at microscopic cells from your own body in a laboratory, participate in live demonstrations and programs, and meet "buddies" who will help you learn about your health.

Gems and Minerals

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Follow a mine shaft into a Mexican silver mine, where a cavern glistens with milky white gypsum crystals and stalactites. Then enter Colorado's own Sweet Home Mine to discover a six-foot wall of beautiful red rhodochrosite crystals. Colorado was founded on mining, so you'll see more local finds, like Tom's Baby, an eight-pound nugget of crystallized gold unearthed in Breckenridge in 1887. You'll also be dazzled by the largest known pocket of aquamarine ever discovered, from Colorado's own Mount Antero, and a giant Brazilian topaz once owned by artist Salvador Dali. The hall is packed with hundreds of specimens from around the world. Hands-on activities and videos help young explorers learn about mineral characteristics and how minerals form.

Prehistoric Journey

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Travel through time-starting 3.5 billion years ago. Your journey begins beneath ancient seas. Life diversifies as you move through the millennia, surrounded by fearsome fish and waving sea lilies. Soon you're out of the water and the air is filled with huge dragonflies. Foot-long centipedes crawl around you. Then the dinosaurs appear!

Space Odyssey

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Future astronauts and inquisitive humans will have a place to discover answers to out of this world questions like, “How do we know how many stars are in our galaxy when we can’t see them all?” “How do you put the brakes on in space?” And, “How do we know what the far side of the Moon looks like if it never faces Earth?”   

Konovalenko: Gem Carvings of Russian Folklife

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
See the only Vasily Konovalenko gem sculptures on public display outside of Moscow, Russia. Konovalenko was born in 1929 in Petrivka, Ukraine (just north of the Black Sea). After earning a degree in art and architecture, he became a stage designer for the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1957, while working at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Konovalenko produced sets for the ballet Stone Flower, in which the protagonist is a stonecutter. Konovalenko's gem carvings for the ballet earned rave reviews, and he became smitten with the art form. He continued to make gem sculptures throughout the 1960s and 1970s. 

Discovery Zone

WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
The Discovery Zone is bursting with activities that help build a strong foundation of science skills in young children as they look, ask, discover, make and share.

Abstract Expressions: Terrace Installation

WHERE: Clyfford Still Museum
Abstract Expressions is a sound and garden installation envisioned by composer and artist Nathan Hall in collaboration with Kevin Philip Williams, assistant curator and horticulturist at Denver Botanic Gardens. This multi-year collaboration between CSM and its communities seeks to honor the prairies of Still’s life and provide a fundamental connection with Denver by creating an interdisciplinary sense of place. When visitors step out onto the terraces, their presence will cue Hall’s original sound compositions. The works’ ephemeral and immersive nature inspires visitor meditation and encourages a deeper connection to the artworks found within the galleries.

Vance Kirkland Paintings

WHERE: Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum
A retrospective of Colorado’s distinguished painter, Vance Kirkland (1904–1981) featuring examples of his five painting periods and more than 30 series spanning from realism to surrealism to abstraction.

Colorado & Regional Art

WHERE: Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum
Colorado and surrounding states’ art history with fine and decorative art from about 1845 to the present.

International Decorative Art

WHERE: Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum
The Kirkland Museum boasts one of the most extensive public displays of international decorative art in North America, with examples of every major design period from about 1870 to the present, including Arts & Crafts, Aesthetic, Art Nouveau, Glasgow Style, Wiener Werkstätte, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Modern, Pop Art and Postmodern

One Fell Swoop by Patrick Dougherty

WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield Farms
This site-specific sculpture was created over the course of three weeks with the help of staff and volunteers. Willow saplings and branches used in the installation were harvested from Colorado locations, including Chatfield Farms. Visitors may view and move through the work in a grassy clearing near the Earl J. Sinnamon Center and the Deer Creek Stables.

James Joseph Brown & the Peoples’ Quest for Gold

WHERE: Molly Brown House Museum
Learn more about the man of the house, James Joseph Brown. Explore the mining endeavors that made the Browns millionaires and changed the course of history in Leadville. Discover how the quest for mineral wealth impacted the people of Colorado and transformed Denver into a growing cultural metropolis as a gateway to the gold fields.

La Misión

WHERE: Museo de las Americas
This semi-permanent exhibit explores the artwork produced as a result of the Spanish monarchy sending priests (Padres) to convert the indigenous Puebloan residents of the Rio Grande River Valley. Housed in the Tragen Folk Art Gallery, it features roughly 20 unique pieces of art that date from the 17th Century to the present and explores the narrative of the peoples living in the Rio Grande River Valley. Featuring artwork from Museo’s private collection, the exhibit examines the visual language unique to the colonial artwork of New Mexico. The gallery has been made reminiscent of a mission church interior, to provide an appropriate space and context for the many Santos, retablos and other artworks in the exhibit.

Buffalo Soldiers: reVision

WHERE: Fort Garland Museum, Ft. Garland
This unique exhibit at the intersection of history, place and art examines the complex legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers in the American West, tracing their history from slavery to service and highlighting the relations between ethnic, gender and racial identities in the landscape of the southern Colorado borderlands. The exhibit features the work of eight artists from across the United States, including Chip Thomas (lead artist), Esther Belin, Mahogany L. Browne, Rosie Carter, Gaia, André Leon Gray, Theodore Harris and Tom Judd.

Coming Soon

Moments That Made US

WHEN: Nov. 22, 2025–Oct. 18, 2026
WHERE: History Colorado Center
See more than 40 artifacts that shaped the United States, including ceramics made by Ancestral Puebloan people long before Europeans arrived in North America, tobacco pipes used by the colonists in Jamestown, the spurs George Washington wore at Valley Forge, the inkwell used by Grant and Lee to sign the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House, Jackie Robinson’s bat, moon rocks from Apollo 11 and more.