Denver Art Museum — Attraction in Denver

The Denver Art museum is a series of several buildings. There is no way you'll be able to see all the exhibits in a single day.

A special exhibition called Biophilia is on and that is the centerpiece. The theme is to look at everyday objects used in the house and offices and reimagine them using nature's biological patterns and processes.

There's a set of lights which look like clustering insects. A chair that folds on itself. Stools that look as if they were formed with volcanic ash.

Resins and tabletops that have flowing lines and intricate patterns. Spoons, forks and table knives with nature's designs engraved into the surface.

Glowlamps on the celing that gently billow outwards and then return to their normal state.,

Taking photographs is encouraged and you can actually lie below the lamps and capture them as they open out and collapse gently. But while it looks amazing at the exhibition, I wonder of they would look good in a living room with the constant movement.

There are dresses worn by mannequins that look like leaves artfully arranged. Or flowing gowns in nature's unbelievably intricate and unending palettes.

There are buildings that look like they were fashioned on termite hills but white in colour. And when we stepped outside, we saw that it was an actual building in downtown.

I wonder what living in one of those will be like.

Then, we move to some of the other pavilions within the museum in another building.

After entry, there's a sticker to be stuck on our clothes, so that we can go anywhere during the day that we've paid for.

Children up to the age of 16 are allowed free entry. That's a great way to encourage families to keep coming to the museums and to ensure a continuing audience for he artifacts later on.

One of the things I notice is how good every installation looks in a photo. The lights, though muted pick up all the details and outlines with amazing clarity.

Before we walk into the Design History of everyday things, we stop over at a set of installations from African countries. Here again, the beauty and the workmanship of the pillars is amazing.

Design history touches on how things like cups, beakers, flasks and filters evolved based on how mankind progressed. The earliest cups and the advances made were neatly placed ina progressive timeline.

And here's the thing. You could spend a whole day on just one pavilion, if that was what you were truly interested in.

There was the evolution of office chairs - and for me, seeing how the chairs looked in the 60s, 70s and 80s brought back a sense of how things changed.

The materials used, the wheels that got added on, as well as the chairs swivelling on a base and the ability to adjust heights were all step-by-step progression. And it's great seeing it all in one place.

There were also several films on how plywood became an integral part of furniture from the 1930s and the experiements being done with it even now.

There were weaves and ways of putting together new furniture that we'll begin to see in the next few years.

The stark contrast between museums back in India and how these are preserved hold lessons for us - because it is always the intermediate points of progress that are missed. The milestones are...

The Denver Art Museum is a very large (3 buildings) museum that trends towards modern art but with some historical art galleries as well.

We found the Hamilton building to be the best looking building but were disappointed with the quality of galleries inside - the sitting gallery was one of my favs haha. The museum feels very 2020. The Masters and classics were displayed on strange walls in out of the way areas with little explanation while mediocre modern art (mainly Colorado artists) got the most of the best gallery spaces. Unfortunately, much of the art is derivative and of middling quality. That being said, the room with Sadie Young's textiles was quite neat and she's a local. The African and Oceanic galleries were strange. Why are they in Denver? Felt out of place. The gift shop was great though and we found a couple cool things.

The Kirkland museum which is included with admission has some really unique design pieces and the Frank Lloyd Wright auditorium seating was very cool. I personally enjoyed the design galleries.

Kirkland's art hisself was quite underwhelming. Read “dot-heavy,” but the lineage looks parallel, not derivative to the master of the Polka Dot - Yayoi Kasuma. Kusama’s dots are earlier and pinned to mind & infinity; Kirkland’s dots (later) are structured around cosmos & energy—plus a distinct, tactile method. Seeing the place Kirkland painted was cool but as far as I could tell the museum didn’t mention Kusama, which made me narrow my eyes. Is Kirkland just derivative? Maybe. I don't know enough about his history.

The brutalist Martin building was the largest building and had some treasures hidden among strange curation choices. Good selection of "western" art with local provenance which was good. Northwest Coast is just a British Columbia gallery - again why is it here? There's no local connection I could understand. Too much to do in one day so we just speed ran stuff you can find in any European museum.

So all in all the art quality varied widely in the galleries although there is a ton to look at. I felt the $30 price point to be very high when compared to other similar museums. The pricing is really set up to reward locals and soak tourists. That's the minus star in the rating here.

You don't need to buy tickets in advance. I did like the stickers to wear around to...

A staple of creativity and learning within Denver. That being said nowadays, this is more for field trips and rich people. Back in the day I remember being able to forward a ticket and go with my friends (or at least my parents were able to afford that) but now it feels like they're much better experiences for much cheaper. That being said, it is still quiet, full of beautiful art, And often has special exhibits that are pretty cool. I do want to point to the gift shop. It has a pretty cool spot to get some interesting art supplies, so if you're visiting Denver and have an interest in art You could save up some money for souvenirs from there, as I even still have a few of the toys I got when I was younger from there. The field trip thing comes from the fact that it is actually a pretty good spot to send kids or go with kids. So long as they know how to respect a museum space. It's wide hallways and surprising number of interactive exhibits. Make it ideal for them. Him any of the special exhibits are specifically geared towards them. Or at the very least, very nerdy people. I particularly liked when we had the Star Wars exhibit pop-up, getting to see the props in person and hear about all the effort that went into one of my favorite franchises was very fun. It's just unfortunate that nowadays this place seems more like a tax Haven for rich people than an actual center of learning and expression. This is most obvious what the types of special exhibits that are beginning to pop up. Nevertheless, they do have some consistency if it's with native American artwork, as well as some key exhibits from Latin American artists as well. It might be my love of History, And from being a local in the state, but I particularly like the Western exhibits that they have as well. We like to think of that time As our equivalent of the dark ages. But as anyone who's actually interested in history will tell you the dark ages still had art, culture, And invention. Due to the Denver flight mentality, I can actually recommend this place to neurodivergent people on their free days, which is a rare thing. I just wish the cause was not extremely detrimental to...