Kimbell Art Museum, Art museum in Fort Worth Cultural District, United States.
The Kimbell Art Museum is an art museum in the Fort Worth Cultural District with vaulted gallery spaces that display around 350 select works, from antiquity to contemporary times. The collection covers paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from different cultures and periods.
Kay and Velma Kimbell set up the Kimbell Art Foundation in 1935 to establish an art institute, after Velma took Kay to a Fort Worth art show in 1931 where he bought a British painting. Kay died in 1964, leaving most of his estate to the foundation; Velma bequeathed her share with the directive to "build a museum of the first class." Louis Kahn was hired in October 1966, construction began in summer 1969, and the museum opened in October 1972. Renzo Piano's separate building opened in November 2013.
The museum's name comes from Kay and Velma Kimbell, whose private collection formed its core; their foundation was set up in 1935. About 350 works are shown, among them Michelangelo's "The Torment of Saint Anthony", the only Michelangelo painting on exhibit in the Americas. Asian galleries hold sculpture and ceramics from China, Korea, Japan, India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia and Thailand, and Precolumbian rooms show Maya jade and Olmec, Zapotec and Aztec sculpture.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, with longer hours on Fridays, and entry to the permanent collections is free. Special exhibitions require a separate admission fee, and guided tours are offered regularly.
The building uses 16 parallel concrete vaults with ceiling slots that filter natural light, illuminating the works without direct sunlight. This lighting technique ensures that the illumination changes gently throughout the day and brings the space to life.
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