From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection opens Joe Overstreet: Taking Flight on January 24, 2025, an exhibition focused on the vibrant, politically charged abstract…
January 24 through July 13, 2025
From the Menil Collection: "Tacita Dean: Blind Folly is the first major museum survey in the United States of work by the British European visual…
October 11 through April 19, 2025
Abstraction after Modernism: Recent Acquisitions
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to announce Abstraction after Modernism: Recent Acquisitions, on view April 26–August 25, 2024. The exhibition highlights…
April 26 through August 25, 2024
From the Menil Collection: "This exhibition focuses on the abstract paintings made by Janet Sobel (1893–1968) during the 1940s. Short-lived but meteoric, her career began…
February 23 through August 11, 2024
From the Menil Collection: "This fall, the Menil Collection will present Hanne Darboven—Writing Time, on view at the Menil Drawing Institute October 27, 2023–February 11,…
October 27 through February 11, 2024
The Iconic Portrait Strand by Nestor Topchy
From the Menil Collection: "This exhibition presents more than one hundred portraits made over the past twenty years by Houston-based artist Nestor Topchy (b. 1963).…
August 04 through January 21, 2024
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection will open an exhibition of drawings by Polish- born American artist Si Lewen (1918–2016) at the Menil Drawing…
April 21 through September 03, 2023
The Curatorial Imagination of Walter Hopps
From the Menil Collection: "Once dubbed “the marvelous mad maven of modern art in America,” Walter Hopps (1932–2005) estimated that he had curated some 250…
March 24 through August 13, 2023
Art of the Cameroon Grassfields, A Living Heritage in Houston
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to announce Art of the Cameroon Grassfields, A Living Heritage in Houston, an exhibition celebrating the…
February 17 through July 09, 2023
BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) 2023
From the organizers: "Presented by Aurora Picture Show and the Menil Collection Location: The Menil Collection Front Lawn - 1533 Sul Ross Aurora Picture Show…
May 06 through May 06, 2023
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to present Samuel Fosso: African Spirits, an exhibition of the fourteen, large-scale gelatin silver prints from…
August 05 through January 15, 2023
Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition
From the Menil Collection: "Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition is the first major transatlantic retrospective on the Swiss artist, and the first in the U.S. in more…
March 25 through September 18, 2022
Wall Drawing Series: Marcia Kure
From the Menil Collection: "Artist Marcia Kure (b. 1970) has been commissioned to create the third of an ongoing series of ephemeral wall drawings in…
October 01 through August 15, 2022
Collection Close-Up: Bruce Davidson’s Photographs
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to present Collection Close-Up: Bruce Davidson’s Photographs. The exhibition comprises a selection of the American photographer’s…
December 10 through May 29, 2022
Panel Discussion: Witnessing Worlds in Transition
To register for this upcoming discussion, go here. From the Menil Collection: "Join Houston-based curators and artists in considering the role of photography in the…
May 11 through May 11, 2022
BYOB (BRING YOUR OWN BEAMER) 2022
For more information on this event, go here. From the organizers: "Aurora and The Menil Collection present this lively, annual evening of community-sourced projections covering…
May 07 through May 07, 2022
Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to announce Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work, the first museum exhibition survey of the…
October 29 through April 23, 2022
From Aurora Picture Show: "Friday, March 11 (7PM) Location: The Menil Collection, Main Building Lawn - 1533 Sul Ross Street Free Admission Aurora Picture Show and…
March 11 through March 11, 2022
Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego are pleased to announce the opening of Niki de Saint…
September 10 through January 23, 2022
Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes
From the Menil Collection: "Running along the western side of South America, the Andean Mountains have supported a rich, interconnected series of civilizations and empires…
July 30 through November 14, 2021
Marion Barthelme Lecture Series: Hilton Als
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to announce renowned writer, critic, and curator Hilton Als as the upcoming speaker for the museum’s…
November 02 through November 04, 2021
Dream Monuments: Drawing in the 1960s and 1970s
To register for the online artist talk with Ken Lum on August 18, 2021, go here. From the Menil: "Dream Monuments presents drawings that challenge…
May 21 through September 19, 2021
Texas Talks Art: Rick Lowe with Michelle White
From the Menil: "Houston-based artist Rick Lowe joins the Menil’s Senior Curator Michelle White for a conversation on the occasion of the museum’s recent acquisition…
August 24 through August 24, 2021
Virginia Jaramillo: The Curvilinear Paintings, 1969–1974
A solo exhibition of painting by Virginia Jaramillo. From the Menil: "Virginia Jaramillo: The Curvilinear Paintings, 1969-1974, is the artist’s first solo museum exhibition. This…
September 26 through July 04, 2021
In Dialogue: On an Ancient Votive Figure
To register for the In Dialogue event with the Menil on June 22, 2021, go here. From the Menil Collection: "Sarah Kielt Costello, associate professor of…
June 22 through June 22, 2021
Allora & Calzadilla: Specters of Noon
To register for the conversation on October 26, go here. To register for the In Dialogue program on December 8, go here. To register for…
September 26 through June 20, 2021
To register for the artist talk on June 16, 2021, go here. From the Menil Collection: "Join the Menil for a live, online program with…
June 16 through June 16, 2021
Sounds to Live By with Jamal Cyrus, Peter Lucas, and DJ Flash Gordon Parks
See more at the Menil's website here. From the Menil Collection: "Visual artist Jamal Cyrus, arts organizer, curator, and writer Peter Lucas, and DJ and…
May 01 through May 01, 2021
Silent Revolutions: Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century
To register for the online symposium from April 7-9, go here, here and here. "Silent Revolutions: Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century, the first large-scale…
November 14 through April 11, 2021
Draw Like a Machine: Pop Art, 1952–1975
From the Menil Collection: "The Menil Collection is pleased to announce the opening of Draw Like a Machine: Pop Art, 1952–1975 at the Menil Drawing…
October 29 through March 13, 2021
In Dialogue: On Brice Marden’s Drawings
In Dialogue is an ongoing public program organized by the Menil Collection, and live streamed on this page as well as their Youtube channel. "Independent…
August 26 through August 26, 2020
In Dialogue: On New Work with Jamal Cyrus
Note: This event is online only An online conversation from the Menil Collection. From the Menil: "Artist Jamal Cyrus joins Michelle White, the Menil’s Senior…
July 15 through July 15, 2020
Photography and the Surreal Imagination
This exhibition presents the wide reach of the surreal imagination in modern and contemporary photography. Anchored in historical Surrealism, it explores photography’s central tension between…
February 05 through June 14, 2020
Collection Close-Up: Of Heaven and Earth
"A thematic exploration of the Menil’s permanent collection, Collection Close-Up: Of Heaven and Earth surveys the representation of birds in the history of art since…
November 15 through March 15, 2020
Mapa Wiya (Your Map's Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale
"This fall, the Menil will present Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale. Meaning “no map” in the Pitjantjatjara…
September 13 through February 02, 2020
Curator Talk: Irene Shum on Siah Armajani
Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Irene Shum discusses the eighteen-foot-long ink drawing "Written Minneapolis (The Last Tomb)," 2014 by Iranian-American artist Siah Armajani (b. 1939).…
January 12 through January 12, 2020
Dr. Nassos Papalexandrou on Art of the Ancient World
"Associate Professor of Greek and Near Eastern Art History and Archaeology at the University of Texas, Austin, Nassos Papalexandrou will speak on the role of…
December 14 through December 14, 2019
Fred Myers Lecture: The Work of Art: The Gift and Invitation of Indigenous Australian Art
"In conjunction with the exhibition "Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale," professor and author Fred Myers will discuss…
December 05 through December 05, 2019
"Berlin-based artist Jorinde Voigt will deliver an Artist Talk in conjunction with the unveiling of her monumental new work commissioned for the Menil Drawing Institute.…
September 28 through September 28, 2019
Fred Baldwin Reading and Book Signing: Dear Mr. Picasso: An Illustrated Love Affair with Freedom
"Baldwin will share images and recount some of the extraordinary experiences of his illustrious career. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and…
August 28 through August 28, 2019
Contemporary Focus: Mineko Grimmer
An solo installation in the main building of the Menil Collection by Mineko Grimmer.
May 31 through July 14, 2019
Collection Close-Up: John Cage
"Collection Close-Up: John Cage presents New River Rocks and Smoke (1990), a monumental watercolor created in 1990 by American artist John Cage (1912–1992). Known primarily…
February 01 through May 22, 2019
Contemporary Focus: Trenton Doyle Hancock
"Epidemic! Presents: Step and Screw!, a series of thirty works on paper by Houston-based artist Trenton Doyle Hancock, combines illustrations and text in a comic…
January 25 through May 19, 2019
Marion Barthelme Lecture: Lucy Lippard
A free, public lecture by Dr. Lucy Lippard, author of Undermining: A Wild Ride Through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West.
May 17 through May 17, 2019
Morgan Menil Biennial Lecture: Antonia Pocock
A free lecture in Houston. "This lecture focuses on a group of Oldenburg’s "Street" drawings, monotypes, and collages in the Menil collection, and addresses the…
April 25 through April 25, 2019
Curators Lecture Series: Haley Berkman Karren on Yves Klein
"Join Curatorial Assistant Haley Berkman Karren for a discussion of Yves Klein’s "Blue Rain (Pluie Bleue) (S 36)" (1961) and the reinstallation of the Menil's…
April 14 through April 14, 2019
"As part of the Menil’s ongoing lecture series with contemporary artists, British artist Tacita Dean will discuss how her work in film, photography, and drawing…
February 12 through February 12, 2019
Roberta Bernstein: Jasper Johns’s Painting and Drawing
"Roberta Bernstein will examine selected works from The Condition of Being Here: Drawings by Jasper Johns at the Menil Drawing Institute and discuss how they…
January 23 through January 23, 2019
John Yau: Jasper Johns and the Damaged Human Body
"Sparked by a statement by Jasper Johns about "broken" representations of the human physique, poet and art critic John Yau will explore the artist’s use…
January 09 through January 09, 2019
Jay Wehnert Lecture and Book Signing
Houston-based writer, curator, and collector Jay Wehnert will lecture about his new book, Outsider Art in Texas: Lone Stars. For more on the book, go here.
December 12 through December 12, 2018
Curator Lecture with Paul R. Davis on Art of the Pacific Islands
"The Pacific Ocean and its more than 20,000 islands comprise one of the most expansive and culturally diverse regions of artistic production in the world.…
December 09 through December 09, 2018
Curators Lecture Series with Clare Elliott on Max Ernst
As part of the reinstallation of the Menil Collection main building, the Surrealism galleries have been reconfigured and expanded, including an entire room devoted to…
November 11 through November 11, 2018
Menil Drawing Institute Community Celebration
The public is invited to celebrate the opening of th Menil Drawing Institute, a building dedicated to the acquisition, exhibition, study, conservation, and storage of…
November 03 through November 03, 2018
Curators Lecture Series: Natalie Dupêcher on Joan Miró
"Join The Menil Collection’s newly appointed Assistant Curator of Modern Art Natalie Dupêcher for a discussion of Joan Miró’s Painting (The Magic of Color) (Peinture…
October 14 through October 14, 2018
Artist Talk with Leslie Hewitt and Courtney J. Martin
"American artist Leslie Hewitt inaugurates the Menil's Contemporary Focus series with her work Where Paths Meet, Turn Away, Then Align Again (Distilled moment from over…
October 03 through October 03, 2018
Menil Collection Reopening Celebration
The Menil Collection reopens after a seven-month hiatus. In the museum's building-wide reinstallation, "the Menil’s most loved paintings and sculptures will be presented alongside promised gifts,…
September 22 through September 22, 2018
Bring Your Own Beamer is back! Organized by the Menil Collection and the Aurora Picture Show, the evening will featuring filmmakers projecting their works onto the…
April 06 through April 06, 2018
A show featuring nearly 50 sculptures, installations, and works on paper by Beirut-born Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum. The exhibition focuses on the "artist’s interest in…
October 13 through February 25, 2018
Rachael Z. DeLue on Kara Walker
Rachael Z. DeLue, professor at Princeton University, will examine the work of Kara Walker. DeLue has written extensively on a variety of topics including American…
February 09 through February 09, 2018
"Through her On Belonging multidisciplinary project, Sehba Sarwar explores her life as a transnational citizen alongside her family’s history of migration and displacement. Sarwar’s live…
February 03 through February 04, 2018
A show of thirty works selected to "tell a unique story about the Menil's history by constructing a narrative that walks visitors through the past thirty…
August 11 through January 28, 2018
On 1971, A Year in the Life of Color
Art historian and University of Chicago professor Darby English will discuss the ideas behind his book 1971: A Year in the Life of Color.
November 30 through November 30, 2017
Hopps Award Lecture: Reem Fadda
A lecture by Palestinian curator Reem Fadda, the eighth recipient of the biennial Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement. Fadda will discuss her recent research on contemporary art from…
October 27 through October 27, 2017
Author and art critic Jed Perl will discuss the life and work of Alexander Calder. A book signing will follow the talk.
October 26 through October 26, 2017
Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip
An exhibition featuring early works by Chryssa, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman. During the late 1950s and 1960s, the six artists…
April 14 through August 06, 2017
An exhibition exploring the life and objects created by the Dogon peoples. From the Menil Collection: " the sculptures, masks, necklaces, and other works by “unknown” artists…
February 03 through July 09, 2017
An exhibition featuring drawings that have been promised to the museum in advance of the opening of the Menil Drawing Institute. The show includes works by Eva Hesse,…
February 24 through June 18, 2017
Menilfest & Gulf Coast Indie Book Fest
An event featuring performances, readings, and a showcase of independent authors and publishers.
May 06 through May 06, 2017
Aurora Picture Show and the Menil Collection are partnering again to present this year's BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer)! Bring a lawn chair and watch members…
May 05 through May 05, 2017
Holy Barbarians: Beat Culture on the West Coast
Via the Menil's website: "This exhibition brings together a selection of California artists who emerged following the Second World War and took advantage of the…
November 18 through March 12, 2017
Robert Rauschenberg: Making an Exhibition
"Leah Dickerman, Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and co-organizer of the Robert Rauschenberg retrospective that…
February 10 through February 10, 2017
A celebration of Houston's museums! Featuring performances be Da Camera, food trucks, screen printing, and more. This event includes the Menil Collection, the Houston Center…
January 28 through January 28, 2017
Drawing in the Continuous Present
Artist Amy Sillman will talk about her life and work. This event is part of the Menil Drawing Institute Conversation and Lecture Series.
January 13 through January 13, 2017
An screening featuring Sunset, an unfinished film by Andy Warhol. "Warhol began making the film in 1964 when the Menil Collection founders John and Dominique de Menil commissioned…
August 19 through January 08, 2017
An exhibition examining the line drawings of Cubist artist Pablo Picasso. Picasso The Line is curated by Carmen Giménez, guest curator, who was founding director of the…
September 16 through January 08, 2017
As Essential as Dreams: Self-Taught Art from the Collection of Stephanie and John Smither
An exhibition of works from the collection of Stephanie and John Smither. The artists in the collection often worked without gallery or museum aspirations and were largely…
June 10 through October 16, 2016
William N. Copley: The World According to CPLY
An exhibition surveying the career of artist William Copley. The show traces Copley's stylistic developments from the early 1950s to the 1990s. Also included in the exhibition…
February 19 through July 24, 2016
The Secret of the Hanging Egg: Salvador Dalí at the Menil
Salvador Dalí’s 1932 painting OEufs sur le Plat sans le Plat (Eggs on a Plate without the Plate) will be hung in the Surrealist galleries. It…
November 05 through June 20, 2016
Root Shift: Photographs of Stasis and Change Selected by CAMH Teen Council
An exhibition centered on the themes of continuity and disruption. The show is curated by the CAMH Teen Council in collaboration with Haley Berkman and Jamal…
March 04 through May 29, 2016
CANCELLED: BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer)
"The Menil and Aurora Picture Show co-host Houston’s third annual BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer). Started in November 2013, BYOB brings together a new wave…
May 27 through May 27, 2016
An exhibition that highlights collages and works inspired by collage in the Menil Collection. The show contains works by Gene Charlton, Sari Dienes, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard…
December 16 through May 01, 2016
TRESPASS: Entering the Scene of Making
A symposium exploring "drawings, first drafts, rehearsals, and other provisional works, exposing their role in shaping modern and contemporary art." Speakers include: Cornelia Butler, Hammer…
April 16 through April 16, 2016
Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
"Wikimedia’s gender trouble is well-documented. In a 2011 survey, the Wikimedia Foundation found that less than 10% of its contributors identify as female. The reasons…
March 18 through March 18, 2016
Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art
A film following artists who created land art. Troublemakers focuses on Robert Smithson (Spiral Jetty, 1970), Walter De Maria (The Lightning Field, 1977) and Michael Heizer…
March 10 through March 10, 2016
Charles Ray: Thoughts on Sculpture
In this lecture, Charles Ray discusses subject matter as a formal element of sculpture.
March 04 through March 04, 2016
MicroCosmos / Details from the Carpenter Collection of Arctic Art
An exhibition objects collected by Adelaide de Menil and late anthropologist Edmund Carpente. This is the first exhibition of this body of work and includes…
August 29 through February 21, 2016
A night of films by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Co-presented by the Menil Collection and Aurora Picture Show.
February 12 through February 12, 2016
The Precarious, the Social, the Parochial: David Breslin and David Leslie in Conversation
Director of the Rothko Chapel David Leslie and Curator David Breslin discuss the ways in which art reflects and creates communities.
February 09 through February 09, 2016
Charles Ray: Thoughts on Sculpture
Charles Ray gives a talk, titled “Matisse & Super Clay: Thoughts on Bronze in Rodin, Degas, and Matisse.”
January 22 through January 22, 2016
Apparitions: Frottages and Rubbings from 1860 to Now
An exhibition of 100 works on paper that explores the historical roots and prominence of frottage, the method of mark-making through rubbing. Predominantly associated with Max…
September 11 through January 03, 2016
Marion Barthelme Lecture Series: Yve-Alain Bois on Ellsworth Kelly
French critic, curator, and art historian Yve-Alain Bois will speak about American artist Ellsworth Kelly.
November 23 through November 23, 2015
Edmund de Waal Lecture and Booksigning
Edmund de Waal talks about his new book The White Road: Journey into an Obsession, a narrative history of porcelain.
November 20 through November 20, 2015
Conversation with the Artist: Sam Gilliam and Paul R. Davis
Menil Curator of Collections Paul R. Davis talks with Washington, D.C.–based artist Sam Gilliam about his work.
October 30 through October 30, 2015
Thoughts on Sculpture with Charles Ray
A lecture by contemporary sculptor Charles Ray.
October 23 through October 23, 2015
A lecture by Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement winner and associate curator in the Department of Media and Performance Art at MoMA, Thomas J. Lax.
October 14 through October 14, 2015
A talk with four Menil Collection curators–Paul Davis, Clare Elliott, Toby Kamps, and Michelle White–in which they’ll discuss their selections for the museum’s upcoming website…
May 07 through May 07, 2015
Architects Shedding Light: The Menil Drawing Institute
Los Angeles-based architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, designers of the Menil Drawing Institute (MDI) building, discuss their plans for the new Menil campus structure.
April 29 through April 29, 2015
Menilfest / Gulf Coast Indie Book Fair / Zine Fest
The Menilfest and Gulf Coast Indie Book Fair present a day filled with art, books, live performances, films, and food. Includes special performances by the…
April 18 through April 18, 2015
William Camfield on Francis Picabia
Art scholar William A. Camfield discusses the work of pioneering artist Francis Picabia and signs copies of the just-published Francis Picabia: Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 1,…
February 18 through February 18, 2015
Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence
What does peace look like? This show explores the resonance in the visual arts of Gandhi’s ethics of nonviolence.
October 02 through February 01, 2015
The Influence of Gandhi and King on Hip-Hop Culture
Hip-hop artist Bernard “Bun B” Freeman, Rice University Professor Anthony Pinn, and Lehigh University Professor Monica Miller discuss how Hip-Hop has been influenced by the…
January 13 through January 13, 2015
Dario Robleto: The Boundary of Life is Quietly Crossed
This exhibit is the perfect union of cabinet of curiosity artist and cabinet of curiosity. Robleto has been researching NASA heartbeat recordings as well as…
August 15 through January 04, 2015
The ultimate street photography! James Nares captured 16 hours of footage on the streets of Manhattan from a moving car. Using a high-def camera, typically…
November 13 through November 13, 2014
Space Sound Place, featuring Reto Geiser, David Grubbs, and John Sparagana
Rice University architect Reto Geiser, Brooklyn College writer and musician David Grubbs, and Rice visual artist John Sparagana discuss the Menil and Rothko Chapel's acoustics,…
September 26 through September 26, 2014
fresh: Haim Steinbach and Objects from the Permanent Collection
Objects from the Menil Collection selected and installed by NY-based artist Haim Steinbach. We pretty much guarantee there will be things you had no idea…
June 28 through August 31, 2014
Outdoor Screening: Mahatma: Life of Gandhi, 1869-1948
August 01 through August 02, 2014
Memories of a Voyage: The Late Work of René Magritte
Continuing its exploration beyond René Magritte’s years leading up to World War II, the Menil presents a selection of works beginning in 1941 and concluding…
February 14 through July 13, 2014
In the Midst of Things: Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss
Political activists and self-taught photographers, Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss met in 1970 and began documenting everyday life in Grimes County, Texas. As a portrait…
March 13 through July 06, 2014
Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926–1938
The first major museum exhibition to focus on the breakthrough surrealist years of René Magritte, tracing strategies and themes from an important period in his…
February 14 through June 01, 2014
Throughout her career, Bontecou has created drawings as a component of her artistic practice, in relation to the sculptures for which she is renowned, and…
January 30 through May 11, 2014
MenilFest takes over the Menil Campus for a day of free art and entertainment.
May 03 through May 03, 2014
Vivian L. Smith Symposium: Materiality and Postwar Art
Exploring material connections between American abstraction and European figuration in the postwar period. Symposium speakers: Katrina Bartlett-Rush, Dr. Kent Minturn, Dr. Alexander Potts, and Dr. Richard Shiff. Moderator: Roja Najafi.
May 02 through May 02, 2014
A world-wide series of one-night exhibitions, BYOB invites artists to bring their own "beamers" (projectors) and explore the medium of moving images. BYOB allows participants…
April 25 through April 25, 2014
In conjunction with the Magritte exhibition Aurora curator Mary Magsamen has curated a collection of short Surrealist films including Magritte’s own home movies. Location: Menil Collection Front…
March 28 through March 28, 2014
A Common Language:Nicola Springer, Anne Wilkes Tucker, and Rebecca Greene Udden
The second installment in new series brings together a designer of buildings, a curator of exhibitions, and a theater director.
March 13 through March 13, 2014
Reilly, Roberts, & White Consider the Drawings of Lee Bontecou
Menil curator Michelle White is joined by Maura Reilly, executive director of the Linda Pace Foundation; and Veronica Roberts, curator of modern and contemporary art…
February 27 through February 27, 2014
It's the end of the world and you have only one potluck left! Share what you would have at your last meal potluck style picnic,…
February 22 through February 22, 2014
Organized by Menil Collection curator of modern and contemporary art Toby Kamps in collaboration with noted Wols scholar Dr. Ewald Rathke and the Kunsthalle Bremen,…
September 13 through January 12, 2014
Nice. Luc Tuymans will present approximately 30 paintings by the artist from his earliest mature work G. Dam, 1978 to canvases finished as recently as…
September 27 through January 05, 2014
Kent Minturn: Wols and Dubuffet in Cassis
What disturbance did Wols and fellow artist Jean Dubuffet experience on the Mediterranean coast? This year’s Morgan-Menil Fellow investigates that question. In conjunction with the exhibition…
November 25 through November 25, 2013
Aurora Picture Show Hosts BYOB at The Menil Collection. Dust off your slide, video, film or overhead projector and bring it to the Menil Collection where anyone…
November 22 through November 22, 2013
Luc Tuymans & Bret Easton Ellis: A Painter. A Novelist. A Conversation.
Tuymans is beyond canonical reproach. Ellis cannot buy his way into the literary canon. They have never met. The Conversation begins. Tickets for indoor seating…
October 29 through October 29, 2013
Lecture | Franklin Sirmans: Prospect.3
Franklin Sirmans, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (a position he previously held at the Menil), returns…
October 18 through October 18, 2013
Eileen Costello: Lecture & Book-signing
Art Historian Eileen Costello, author of Brice Marden: Beyond Visual Reality, specializes in postwar American and European art, and has studied the work of Brice Marden over…
October 10 through October 10, 2013
A Common Language: Sarah Rothenberg, Tony Hoagland, and Carl Palazzolo
A new series of occasional conversations at the Menil, A Common Language invites artists from different disciplines to focus on and consider particular works of…
October 09 through October 08, 2013
Conversation: Nice. Luc Tuymans
Belgian artist Luc Tuymans is known for his distinctive painting style, and for his choice of historically and emotionally charged subject matter. As the thirty…
September 27 through September 27, 2013
Nice. Luc Tuymans: An artist in conversation with the exhibition curators
With Menil Director Josef Helfenstein and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Toby Kamps, Luc Tuymans discusses his new exhibition, which juxtaposes the artist's celebrated…
September 27 through September 27, 2013
A Closer Look at Things Byzantine: Public Tour
Explore visual connections that span centuries in Byzantine Things in the World with curator Glenn Peers, curatorial assistant Susan Sutton and Rex Koontz, Director, University…
June 20 through June 20, 2013
Chuck Smith: Film Screening and Booksigning
Delve into the obscure life of painter, fisherman, pseudo-hermaphrodite-Forrest Bess in the film screening of Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle. Director and author Chuck…
June 20 through June 20, 2013
Walter Hopps Award Lecture: Cuahutémoc Medina
2012 Walter Hopps Award winner Cuauhtémoc Medina is an important figure in the recent prominence of art from Mexico City. Medina is a researcher at…
June 10 through June 10, 2013
The Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall: The Outside Story
Menil conservators shed light on the renovation of the museum's site-specific satellite pavilion. Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 p.m. in the Menil foyer.
March 27 through March 27, 2013
The Menil, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria join together to explore the changing modes and meanings…
December 02 through March 17, 2013
The U.S. premiere of new performance piece by Jean-Claude Carrière, the screenwriter of "The Incredible Lightness of Being." A tightly condensed version of the ancient…
March 11 through March 12, 2013
Untitled (Structures): Leslie Hewitt In Collaboration With Bradford Young
A new film installation inspired by Civil Rights-era photographs in the Menil Collection meditates on the distance in time that separates us from, while still…
January 26 through March 05, 2013
Music from across the African continent – songs and tunes inspired by love in all its expressions – in this free public program designed to…
February 22 through February 22, 2013
Wura-Natasha Ogunji: Radio Kaduna
Radio Kaduna is a live performance with video that explores the meanings of true love within a Muslim-Christian household in pre-independence Nigeria. Presented in conjunction…
February 16 through February 16, 2013
A special screening of a new documentary exploring the life and art of Texas art patriarch, Bert Long, Jr.
February 14 through February 14, 2013
Marion Barthelme Lecture Series: Michael Govan on Michael Heizer
Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will speak on the work of Michael Heizer at the inagural Marion Barthelme Lecture,…
February 11 through February 11, 2013
Rarely displayed collages offer insight into sculptor’s extraordinary take on the everyday.
September 20 through February 03, 2013
The first of four multi-venue events replacing the former Museum District Day. On January 26, Houston Center for Photography joins the Rothko Chapel and the…
January 26 through January 26, 2013
Shades of Love: Romance in Contemporary African Cinema
A panel discussion preceding weekend film series, presented in conjunction with the new exhibition "The Progress of Love" Kristina Van Dyke, curator of the exhibition…
January 10 through January 10, 2013
Dear John & Dominique: Letters and Drawings from the Menil Archives
The first exhibition to be drawn entirely from Menil Archives, organized by Menil Curator Michelle White and Menil Archivist Geraldine Aramanda Celebrates the lives and…
August 10 through January 06, 2013
Philip Glass Free Concert at the Menil
Composer Philip Glass will bring the Menil's 25th Anniversary celebrations to a finale when he performs an 80-minute concert of his works including the premiere…
December 02 through December 02, 2012
Vivian L. Smith Foundation Symposium: Pop and Public Art
Inspired by Claes Oldenburg's Geometric Mouse at Houston's Central Library, symposium speakers Lisa Freiman, curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Tom Eccles, director of…
November 12 through November 12, 2012
Co-organized by the Menil and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive the exhibition explores the realm of silence in modern and contemporary art.
July 27 through October 21, 2012
Making a Museum: Calvin Tomkins in Conversation with Josef Helfenstein
Art writer for The New Yorker Calvin Tomkins has a vivid and highly personal view of John and Dominique de Menil, as well as events…
October 17 through October 17, 2012
Bring a blanket and view the re-digitized 1977 documentary North Star: Mark di Suvero, directed by Francois de Menil, written by art historian Barbara Rose,…
October 05 through October 05, 2012
The Menil's family and friends celebrate 25 years with the renowned Kashmere Reunion Stage Band, a scavenger hunt for the whole family, cake and ice…
September 22 through September 22, 2012
Simultaneous performances in locations throughout The Menil Collection’s main building. The sounds of amplified cactus, crumpling paper, spoken word, tin cans, radios and electric guitars…
September 15 through September 15, 2012
Maoridom Ceremony and Reception
A welcoming ceremony wherein Maori delegates will perform traditional formalities, known as pōwhiri, to initiate their week long study of Maori works in the Menil…
September 14 through September 14, 2012
Danny Lyon: This World Is Not My Home
54 images from 1962 to the present trace the wide-ranging evolution of a leading figure in the American street photography movement of the 1960s.
March 30 through July 29, 2012
Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective
The first-ever critical overview of Serra's drawings is the first major one-person exhibition organized by the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center. Don't miss it:…
March 02 through June 10, 2012
Artists Eye: Allison Hunter on Richard Serra
May 06 through May 06, 2012
Old Dog Group Portrait with Nancy LeVine
Join HCP and Exhibiting Artist Nancy LeVine for a group portrait featuring YOUR senior dog! Bring your 10 year old (or older) furry friend to…
May 05 through May 05, 2012
Co-sponsored by NANO Fiction and Gulf Coast, the fifth annual Houston Indie Book Fest celebrates small presses, magazines, and independent bookstores in Houston
April 14 through April 14, 2012
Fourth Annual Menil Community Arts Festival
The Menil Collection museum and a group of surrounding non-profit arts organizations come together to host a free afternoon of art and entertainment that will…
April 14 through April 14, 2012
Barbara Rose: The Impact of Medieval Illumination on Modern Drawing
Independent scholar and curator Barbara Rose, the first Morgan-Menil Fellow, talks about the medieval Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana (c. 730 – c. 800) and…
April 03 through April 03, 2012
In collaboration with the Menil's Serra show and its curator Michelle White, Aurora Picture Show presents an outdoor screening of films that explore the gesture…
March 23 through March 23, 2012
Annemarie Weyl Carr, Professor of Art History at S.M.U., Pamela Smart, Professor of Anthropology and Art History, SUNY Binghampton, and William Vendley, Secretary General of…
February 19 through February 19, 2012
Seeing Stars: Visionary Drawing from the Collection
Mining the Menil Collection's archives, curator Michelle White showcases rarely exhibited drawings by artists who largely had no contact with the mainstream art world.
September 23 through January 15, 2012
Terry Castle: Inside or Outside?
An illustrated lecture by literary and visual critic Terry Castle, presented in conjunction with the exhibition Seeing Stars: Visionary Drawing from the Collection. Castle is…
January 12 through January 12, 2012
Three suites of three works each: paintings, chrome sculptures, and vintage cars by the conceptual art master who brought you the New York Earth Room…
September 16 through January 08, 2012
Art Guys Marry A Plant: Dedication Ceremony
In a ceremony officiated by National Book Critics Circle Winner Lawrence Weschler, Director of the New York Institute for the Humanities, the Art Guys will…
November 19 through November 19, 2011
Thomas E. Crow: Mark Rothko's Actors: Shape and Edge in the Evolution of His Art
For the Rothko Chapel's 40th anniversary, the Menil Collection presents Thomas E. Crow, Professor of Modern Art at New York University, a contributing editor of…
November 14 through November 14, 2011
A Roundtable Discussion: Cultural Heritage 2.0: Participatory Stewardship
Who owns a particular work of art, idea, concept, process, or story? Which museum or library, country or government, people or person? The Menil Collection…
November 03 through November 03, 2011
The Menil Collection presents The Whole World Was Watching, a selection of works from a gift of more than 200 Civil Rights-era photographs from Edmund…
March 05 through September 25, 2011
An Evening In Memory of Cy Twombly
The Menil Collection, Houston and Dia Art Foundation will present a public program in memory of Cy Twombly, who died in Rome on July 5.…
September 22 through September 22, 2011
Robert Thoth: Performing and Playing in Bits
The 8th annual Media Archeology Festival presents live cinema performance by Houston artist Robert Thoth, “The Chiptune Crooner.” The crooner will perform popular songs from…
September 16 through September 16, 2011
Ancestors of the Lake: Art from Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea
Ancestors of the Lake: Art from Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea brings together this body of work together for the first time in…
May 05 through August 28, 2011
The Artists Eye: Joan Son on the Byzantine Fresco Chapel
Folded-paper artist Joan Son debuted her art in the windows of Tiffany & Co. in the spring of 1993 and has created numerous large scale…
August 07 through August 07, 2011
Don't miss the Menil's presentation of Upside Down: Arctic Realities, an exhibition and museum-going experience. Rare and rarely exhibited examples of ancient Arctic art, many…
April 15 through July 17, 2011
Lecture and Award- Adam Szymczyk: Walter Hopps Curatorial Achievment Award
Adam Szymczyk, director of Switzerland's Kunsthalle Basel, is the fifth winner of the award established in 2001 in honor of founding director Walter Hopps (1932-2005).…
May 17 through May 17, 2011
The Menil Collection presents an exhibition of rarely-seen drawings exploring Tony Smith's early work, the American artist best known for monumental geometric sculptures in steel…
February 18 through April 03, 2011
This all day festival on the Menil "campus" will feature an indie book festival, a concert at the Rothko chapel and a family drum circle…
April 02 through April 02, 2011
Imprinting the Divine: Byzantine and Russian Icons from the Menil Collection
Rare and important pieces from the 6th to 18th centuries from the Menil’s collection of icons, widely regarded by scholars as one of the most…
October 21 through March 18, 2011
Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964-66
Co-organized by the Menil Collection and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964-66 is curated by Michelle White and…
November 18 through February 20, 2011
KURT SCHWITTERS: Color and Collage
Color and Collage marks the first U.S. overview of Kurt Schwitters's career since the Museum of Modern Art retrospective 25 years ago, on view at…
October 22 through January 30, 2011
EARTH PAINT PAPER WOOD: Recent Acquisitions
Organized by Assistant Curator Clare Elliott, the exhibition EARTH PAINT PAPER WOOD emphasizes works on paper from the 20th century from the Menil Collection's permanent…
September 20 through November 28, 2010
Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil
Come out to the Menil on Wednesday, November 3rd from 7-8:30 pm and toast John and Dominique de Menil with a wine reception honoring the…
November 03 through November 03, 2010
Religion is never far from art. A new exhibition, Objects of Devotion, at the Menil, explores this persistent connection. Culled from the museum's permanent collection…
August 13 through October 31, 2010
Art historians, curators, and conservationists gather in Houston on Saturday, October 2 to present and discuss new research into the work of Henri Rousseau. The…
October 02 through October 02, 2010
The Menil Collection proves time and time again how lucky Houstonians are to have it in their midst. From antiquities to fresh-out-of-the-studio contemporary art, the…
February 12 through August 15, 2010
Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Realist...
Drawn from the Menil’s archives and permanent collection, Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Realist Performance is conceived and organized by Associate Curator Michelle…
March 20 through August 08, 2010
Steve Wolfe on Paper at The Menil Collection highlights Wolfe's works on paper which incorporate drawing, collage, and printmaking. Known for his scrupulous handmade reproductions…
April 05 through July 25, 2010
Dario Fo: One Was Nude and One Wore Tails
The Menil Collection and Main Street Theater Present a one night only public performance by Dario Fo, Nobel-prize winning playwright, director, and performer, in One…
June 15 through June 15, 2010
Annie Cohen-Solal- Reading and Booksigning
The Menil Collection presents Annie Cohen-Solal, author of the new biography, Leo & His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli. Castelli's gallery opened in New…
June 10 through June 10, 2010
Bisi Silva-Contemporary Art and Shifting Curatorial Practice
Renowned curator Bisi Silva, founder and director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria, will speak at The Menil Collection for one night…
May 10 through May 10, 2010
Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
Head on over to The Menil Collection for a one night screening of the film Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies. "In 2007, New…
April 23 through April 23, 2010
2010 Houston Indie Book Festival
NANO Fiction and Gulf Coast host this year’s Houston Indie Book Festival through a collaboration with The Menil Collection. This is the third official year…
April 03 through April 03, 2010
"Drawn from the Menil's diverse collection of over 16,000 objects, Body in Fragments explores the manner in which the human form is dissected and reconfigured…
August 21 through February 28, 2010
Cy Twombly: Treatise on the Veil
"Painted in Rome in 1970, Treatise on the Veil marks a critical period in the career of Cy Twombly. One of the American artist's largest…
December 08 through February 14, 2010
Twentieth-Century Art at The Menil Collection
Marking the return of the museum's twentieth-century galleries to the building's east end, Museum Director Josef Helfenstein and Franklin Sirmans (now curator of contemporary art…
February 05 through February 05, 2010
The Menil Collection presents the first major U.S. exhibition in nearly 40 years to focus exclusively on the work of Latin American artist Joaquín Torres-García.…
September 24 through January 03, 2010
Drawings On Site: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
"Drawings On Site: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, organized by Bernice Rose, chief curator of the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center, in cooperation…
May 09 through October 11, 2009
Contemporary Conversations: John Chamberlain
Contemporary Conversations: John Chamberlain, American Tableau, organized by Menil curator of modern and contemporary art Franklin Sirmans, is the "third in the Menil’s Contemporary Conversations'…
May 12 through August 02, 2009
Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave
The Menil presents the first mid-career survey of this acclaimed artist's work to be mounted in North America. "Featuring more than 50 works, from intimate…
March 27 through June 21, 2009
Face Off: A Selection of Old Masters and Others
Check out some of the Menil's seldom-seen works, including prints from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries, a few pre-Renaissance sculptures, and a small group…
February 06 through April 26, 2009
Orgainzed by Asst. Curator Michelle White, Imaginary Spaces includes "three centuries of paintings, sculpture, and works on paper" from the Menil's permanent collection.
August 22 through March 01, 2009
Max Ernst: In the Garden of Nymph Ancolie
"Organized by the Museum Tinguely, Basel, and supplemented in Houston by work from The Menil Collection, this exhibition is conceived around the mural, Pétales et…
January 13 through February 15, 2009
Art and Power in the Central African Savanna
"The Menil Collection presents Art and Power in the Central African Savanna, an original exhibition that explores the political and religious power of nearly 60…
September 26 through January 04, 2009
The Reinstallation of the African Art Galleries
If you've think you've seen all of the Menil's African collection, well, you haven't. On Saturday, Apr. 12 at 7:30 pm hear Kristina Van Dyke,…
April 11 through December 31, 2008
NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith
Co-organized by the Menil's Franklin Sirmans and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith "brings together a multigenerational group of North,…
June 27 through September 21, 2008
STERNE and STEINBERG: Critics Within
Work by Saul Steinburg and Hedda Sterne from the 1940s through the early 1960s.
May 23 through August 17, 2008
Max Neuhaus: Circumscription Drawings
If you're into Max Neuhaus', then check out these drawings referencing forty years of his sound installations.
May 04 through August 10, 2008
Featuring nearly 200 works on paper by just about everyone you could imagine, this show offers a preview of many works that will be the…
February 15 through May 18, 2008
form, color, illumination: Suzan Frecon painting
This is Frecon's first U.S. museum exhibition of her large-scale oil paintings. Join the artist and Menil director Josef Helfenstein for a gallery talk Monday,…
March 07 through May 11, 2008
Vivid Vernacular: Christenberry, Eggleston, & Evans
William Christenberry, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans.
January 11 through April 20, 2008
This little show will focus exclusively on 1976, the year when Ryman busted out and got crazy with the hardware.
November 09 through February 17, 2008
A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s
As listed in our Fall Preview: "Nauman is rightly viewed as one of the greats, as the early works in this show should testify. Organized…
October 25 through January 13, 2008
Lessons from Below: Otabenga Jones & Associates
Organized by Franklin Sirmans and Michelle White, Lessons from Below references the infamous
September 13 through December 09, 2007
A curator, writer, art collector, and former trustee of The Menil Collection and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Whitney was a pioneer in modern and…
May 11 through October 28, 2007
A Modern Patronage: de Menil Gifts to Museums
Come celebrate 20 years of patronage on the anniversary date of one of the best institutions in Houston! Featuring works by: Max Ernst, Ren
June 08 through September 16, 2007
Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces
Read an interview with Rauschenberg from 1965! Don't miss a rare opportunity to see all this work in one place and read what Tyler Green…
February 23 through May 13, 2007
Everyday People: 20th-Century Photography from The Menil Collection
Everyday People is both Franklin Sirmans’ first Menil show and the inaugural exhibition of The Menil's year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary.
January 01 through April 29, 2007
Come out for this rare and special treat at The Richmond Hall on the Menil grounds!
April 21 through April 21, 2007
Panel discussion on the exhibition Everyday People: 20th Century Photography, moderated by Franklin Sirmans, Curator at the Menil with Kathryn Davidson, former Curator of prints,…
March 22 through March 22, 2007
Robert Rauschenberg: Open Score
Open Score is the first in a series of 10 films to be released documenting performances that occurred at the 69th Regiment Armory including: John…
March 14 through March 15, 2007
Funding generously provided by:
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