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In March, the Museum celebrates Women’s History Month by highlighting works of art that help you answer the question “Can you name #5WomenArtists?” French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) put her emotional life at the center of her art by incorporating autobiographical imagery inspired by childhood trauma. Bourgeois was born in France, where her parents ran a tapestry-restoration …

Artist Ron Mueck (born 1958 in Melbourne, Australia) draws upon memories, reveries, and everyday experience as he portrays his subjects with extraordinary compassion. Evolution of a SculptorAfter working as a model-maker in film and television in the United States and London, Mueck shifted his focus to the fine arts in the mid-1990s; among his first sculptures was a figure of the young …

One of the many things we had to plan for in demolishing the Glassell Studio School building was making sure none of the sculptures in Cullen Sculpture Garden would be in harm's way. After pacing out the site, taking measurements, and doing a bit of research, all went smoothly this summer for our crew of six—and we were even rewarded with a little discovery. We knew Jim Love's Can Johnny …

Houstonians don’t have to travel far or break the bank to have fun this Spring Break. Get out of the house and check out these six, free ways to enjoy the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston! 1) Cullen Sculpture GardenFor an outdoor experience, relax among sculptures by artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Auguste Rodin. Admission is always free, and the garden is open every day from 9 a.m. to 10 p …

Artist María Fernanda Cardoso would like to remind us of something very important about starfish—they are animals, not objects. You may not see eyes when you look at them, but starfish are animals, just as humans are. “I realized that starfish have five limbs,” she says, “and we have five fingers, and I thought, oh my!” When we use our eyes to look at her installation Woven Water: Submarine …

What does it take to install a 36-foot-tall, 2-ton sculpture in the heart of the Houston Museum District? Our newly acquired Albero folgorato tells the story.

Like medical students completing their residencies in a hospital, graduate conservation students gain practical experience during their final year.

On his way to work, MFAH photographer Will Michels noticed that a bronze sculpture depicting Christopher Columbus had been tagged in several places with silver paint. The sculpture, which stands in Bell Park in the Museum District, was paid for by Houston’s Italian-American community. Columbus points to the Italian Cultural and Community Center on Milford Street. The graffiti appeared in …

My favorite work in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is Pablo Picasso’s Woman with Outstretched Arms. You won’t find it in our galleries at the moment, for it is visiting New York, where it welcomes all visitors to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s special exhibition Picasso Black and White. This playfully monumental sculpture returns to its Houston home for the second and …

Color Fieldpainter Jules Olitski didn’t stay in one place very long, artistically speaking. Unlike his contemporaries—Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland—Olitski changed his artistic techniques frequently. “Olitski is unique among the Color Field painters in the rapidity of his evolution,” says Alison de Lima Greene, MFAH curator of contemporary art and special projects. Greene …