The Active Historian

Hey friend, welcome back to another post! Today, we’re taking a trip to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. There’s several things for people to enjoy here. My personal favorites are the American Western landscapes and the work by Chihuly. Let’s go look around!

Museum History

I learned a lot about this museum doing the research for this post! According the OKC MOA website, the museum can be traced to statehood with the efforts of the Oklahoma Art League and Art Renaissance Club. As a part of the New Deal programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) created an Experimental Gallery. In 1945, the museum incorporated as a private institution. In the late 1980s, the Oklahoma Art Center and the Oklahoma Museum of Art merged to form the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

The current museum opened in 2002 and receives over 125,000 visitors each year.

Now, I want to show you some of my favorite pieces in the collection!

Chihuly Then and Now: The Collection at Twenty

“Chihuly Then and Now” celebrates the 20th anniversary of Dale Chihuly’s collection at the OKC MOA. This exhibition showcases over five decades of his work and how it has evolved over time. You can read panels on the wall that tell the story of Chihuly’s impressive career!

I remember visiting this museum when I was in junior high and the Chihuly exhibit being on the third floor. The newly redesigned exhibition space is on the first floor and features never seen before pieces! I loved seeing the pieces in the new space with different lighting and designs – it was very cool.

Permanent Collection

I always enjoy taking a lap around the permanent collection to view old favorites. As someone who studies American Western history, I usually find myself being drawn to the landscape painting that showcase wide open spaces.

In the same vein, Thomas Moran has always been one of my favorite painters and I do love the coastal scene in the first picture below!

I threw in a a couple of contemporary pieces for fun! I love the colors in the four works of art below.

True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism

The whole purpose of this particular trip to the art museum was to see “True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism.” This exhibition contains over 100 pieces of art from Rodin and some of his contemporaries like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Paul Cézanne.

Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor who is known as the “father of modern sculpture.” His style of sculpting was unique in that he didn’t try to erase finger prints, clay pinches or imperfections in the clay. This allowed the artist’s presence to be seen and felt in the work.

To learn more about the exhibition, click HERE.

Concluding Thoughts

I always enjoy walking through the OKC Museum of Art and seeing the new exhibitions as well as the pieces from the permanent collection.

I can’t wait for their new exhibition to open on November 11, 2023! They’re going to have a whole exhibition of Preston Singletary’s pieces. I know I’ll be visiting again!

Happy traveling, I’ll talk to ya soon! 🙂

Visit

415 Couch Drive

Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Sources

“History” – OKC MOA website

“Current Exhibitions” – OKC MOA website

“Chihuly Then and Now: The Collection at Twenty”

“True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism”