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Menil Collection

One of the most widely regarded private collections of the 20th century, the Menil Collection is home to 15,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings  photographs and rare books. Situated in the Montrose area of Houston's Museum District, this unique museum was built in 1987 to preserve the collection of John and Dominique de Menil. While Menil includes masterpieces that span the continents and the world's great civilizations -- including Byzantine and medieval works, tribal art, and antiquities -- the museum also features a highly prized collection of modern art, particularly its Surrealist holdings. This collection of  European modernist, surrealist, and post-WWII American works reads like an art history book, with household names like Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol. Other 20th-century luminaries include  Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Joan Miró, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Mark Rothko, to name but a few. Designed jointly by Renzo Piano/Building Workshop in Genoa, Italy, and Houston's Richard Fitzgerald & Partners, the Menil Collection's architecture is considered a work of art in itself, with thoughtful spaces, an innovative roof and skylight system, interior atrium gardens, and large gallery windows. The Menil Collection is free and open to the public.

Address: 1515 Sul Ross

URL: http://www.menil.org