The Phoenix Art Museum isn’t just the biggest art museum in the Southwest—it’s also woven into the story of Phoenix itself. Nearly a century ago, it all started with a simple idea: a local civic club’s small art committee wanted to improve the art at the Arizona State Fair. They bought one new piece each year, slowly building up what would become the Phoenix Municipal Collection. It was modest, but it mattered.
As Phoenix grew, so did its ambitions for the arts. Locals who cared about culture set up the Phoenix Fine Arts Association, pulling together art lovers, photographers, and educators to organize shows around town. Their energy, along with decades of collecting, eventually led to the museum’s official opening in 1959. What began with a handful of pieces now fills galleries with more than twenty thousand works from around the globe.
Today, the museum’s collection covers a huge range: American painters, Asian sculptures, European masters, Latin American artists, Western American scenes, modern and contemporary pieces, and, on top of all that, an impressive fashion collection. That fashion focus is actually one of the museum’s gems. The Arizona Costume Institute started in 1966, and since then, the collection has grown to thousands of garments and accessories, some from as far back as the 1700s. Few U.S. museums take fashion as seriously as art—Phoenix is one of them. Don’t miss this spot while you’re in Phoenix.
Big donations have shaped the museum, too. Gifts of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including works by Monet, gave the collection real depth. The museum also stands out for its work with Latin American art, organizing shows of Mexican art that toured both the U.S. and Mexico.
But it’s not all about what hangs on the walls year after year. The museum brings in new exhibitions all the time—Old Master paintings, cutting-edge photography, and historical Asian art, to name a few. The ongoing partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona means fresh photography exhibits show up consistently, pulling from an archive that’s among the country’s best. Whenever major touring exhibitions come to town, crowds follow, and the museum’s membership swells.
Supporting artists is still at the heart of what the museum does. Since 1986, the museum has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than two hundred Arizona artists through annual awards, making sure the local art scene keeps growing.
Now, you’ll find everything from centuries-old European paintings to contemporary fashion and Southwestern landscapes inside the museum. It’s become a cultural anchor for the Valley. What started as a club’s yearly purchase blossomed into a place where art from all over the world meets the desert, reminding visitors that Phoenix’s roots in creativity run deep—and its doors stay open to both the city and the world. If you’re seeking for a flooring store, click here.
