Buffalo AKG Art Museum — Attraction in Buffalo

I have to say I was severely unimpressed. I hadn't been here in years and had been to the art museum in Philadelphia recently. I assumed our humble art museum maybe wouldn't be as grand but would at least have some stuff to spend the day at and enjoy some artwork.

They give you a crude worthless map which must have been designed by a kindergartener, and set you on your way in a massive open building with no signs. We were told one building was closed under construction. The first floor of the one building was all empty, there was a gift shop and an event going on and one wing was filled with a childcare area. We were told all the art was upstairs. It was awkwardly laid out and it felt like certain places (again no signs anywhere) were places we weren't supposed to go?

We went upstairs and there is a grand room that branches off in various directions. Overall I think there were 10 rooms. Of these rooms, 2 of them are dotted sparingly with sculptures and 3 of them are classic oil/acrylic paintings. The rest were all just modern art or paint thrown haphazardly on a canvas. 1 was dedicated to the history of the museum and probably was the most interesting though not particularly art-themed room..Not the stuff you think of primarily when you go to an art museum for sure. 1 room has a couple mixed media pieces and then had the stairs in it.

So essentially 5 rooms barely filled. It took us about an hour and a half to go through and that's with bathroom breaks and taking our time and shuffling around other visitors.

It's embarrassing! They are spending all their money on making grand buildings you can't even appreciate unless you're looking down from a plane and rebranding as "the AKG" sounds like a gun... Instead of oh I don't know, getting some cool exhibits or showcasing art, or hmm maybe show some local Buffalo artists?!

We felt shocked. Like the map sucked so we were sure we had to be missing something..we asked one of the attendants politely if there were more buildings to see and she said no it is just this one (and the one that is under construction)... What a rip off! But we could stay until 7pm and there was live music. Really?? As if there was anything to do to spend the time from 2pm until 7! They want you to eat at food trucks and stand outside where there are just a couple sculptures to look at.

The museum in Philly was amazing. I only had 1 afternoon and could easily have spent days there because I still hadn't seen everything before it closed.

I think the AK47s (that's what I'm calling the AKG committee) need to focus on art and not elaborate buildings and events. We have a free ticket to come back when the other building opens and we aren't even sure at this point if it will be worth it. I remember coming as a kid and there was so much more to see here. They had a Monet exhibit and there was so much to see. But then they apparently redid the buildings and destroyed 80% of the exhibition area? But it also could have been a different museum maybe. I'm not certain on that, but I do know our trip today was disappointing and disheartening and I felt severely unimpressed and frankly ripped off as someone who was excited to see some art and to see the new "Knox" after it's supposed...

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum emerges as a crystalline exception in a city where architectural dreams often crumble. Shohei Shigematsu's breathtaking OMA addition transforms a failed Pan-American Exposition pavilion into contemporary transcendence—540 triangular glass panels creating an ethereal "veil" floating above Delaware Park.

The $230 million metamorphosis tells a quintessentially American reinvention story. The 1905 Greek Revival building, designed for Buffalo's World's Fair where McKinley was assassinated, missed its moment due to construction delays. That historical irony feels prophetic as Shigematsu's addition transforms architectural disappointment into triumph.

Unlikely patron Jeffrey Gundlach embodies the eccentric collector-as-savior narrative. The $2.2 billion "Bond King" named his DoubleLine Capital firm after a cherished Piet Mondrian painting, using its "double line" as risk management metaphor. His $65 million gift—largest cultural donation in Western New York history—stems from childhood museum visits with his grandmother.

The Gundlach Building's cruciform core, wrapped in gossamer glass, creates perimeter galleries flooded with Lake Erie light. Art floats in luminous space while visitors glimpse the Olmsted-designed park beyond—museological poetry realized.

The museum's most radical transformation occurred in 1910, when Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton became America's first female major museum director. Rising from bookkeeper to visionary, she staged exhibitions so ambitious they spilled into Delaware Park. The new restaurant bearing her name—featuring Firelei Báez's 30-foot mosaic—honors this forgotten revolutionary.

The crown jewel remains 33 Clyfford Still paintings spanning 1937-1963—the second-largest repository after Denver's dedicated museum. These monumental abstractions gain new power in Shigematsu's soaring galleries. Still personally chose Buffalo as his legacy's home, and the mysterious technique of these volcanic surfaces reveals why.

Olafur Eliasson's Common Sky—a spiraling glass canopy over the Knox Building's courtyard—creates a free public town square. The installation's vortex column marks where a hawthorn tree once stood, connecting natural and artistic growth.

Attendance has doubled since reopening, with 100,000+ visitors in initial months and $34 million projected annual economic impact. Recent labor disputes reveal tensions between philanthropic vision and institutional reality, yet such conflicts seem inevitable when ambition meets economics.

Shigematsu's addition succeeds by honoring classical dignity while embracing radical transparency. The glass veil suggests simultaneous vulnerability and strength—appropriate for a city rebuilding from ruins.

Standing in the highest gallery, surrounded by Still's cosmic abstractions and gazing through crystalline walls toward Lake Erie, visitors experience architecture's greatest achievement: the sensation that transformation is always possible.

The Buffalo AKG proves the most improbable stories—failed fair pavilions, bond kings with Mondrian obsessions, pioneering female directors—create the most necessary...

A true gem in Buffalo! I, admittedly, am not a fan of contemporary art. I fully appreciate the methods, mediums, and didacticism of these works, but found myself on more than one occasion scratching my head and thinking, "I honestly just don't get it". Descriptive labels went a long way in developing some sense of appreciation in these circumstances. But, one's experience is completely dominated by works that are so intriguing and soul-saturating that one becomes totally transported and transformed. You will be standing on holy ground sanctified by some of the worlds true Greats--- early Picasso, Paul Ce'zanne, James Tissot, Paul Gauguin, Hudson River School painter Albert Bierstadt Jackson Pollock, Henry Moore, Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Mark Bradford, so many others! The Hemicycle Gallery of early photography was a complete surprise and held me captivated for some time. The 1960s Glass Box Theater was a clever installation to bring out after so many years in storage. You will have to remove your shoes and wear socks to enter it, and you have exactly two minutes to walk through it and get a striking photo. (Disposable socks are available if you arrive without them.) The museum building itself is a magnificent work of art that must be experienced from the inside to fully appreciate. Magnificent. The stunning spaces of opulent light, glass, marble, and sweeping stairs and galleries is easily accessed by elevator for those who need it. Even folding chairs are made available for those prone to extended contemplation. When looking for dining options, the Cornelia has a menu of "artistic" classic creations to satisfy any palate. The polenta with mushroom, spinach and leek was delicious! The Cornelia is only open from noon to 3pm. It is open most days but not every day. We were there on a Thursday. One online source says they are closed on Monday, but another said they are closed Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm confused about that. You may wish to call ahead of your visit to confirm. Honestly, my biggest disappointment was the gift shop which seemed very limited, wildly overpriced, and certainly didn't reflect the vitality and energy of its environs. Simple souvenirs of one's visit were basically non-existent and it seemed sad there was nothing a child could purchase to ignite further interest in art or to immortalize their visit in a way that would speak to them. Would like to say kudos for the very convenient attached parking garage and and for the admission attendant who helped us pay in the garage kiosk when it kept...