Permanent Collection

The Austin Museum of Art’s modest permanent collection consists of modern and contemporary art works from the United States in a variety of media. The collection features work from local, regional, national, and on occasion, international artists.

Throughout its history, the Museum has acquired paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, and prints by historic and contemporary Texas artists, including Terry Allen, Ellen Berman, Keith Carter, Michael Ray Charles, Ben Cullwell, Fidencio Duran, David McGee, Luis Jimenez, Tom Lea, Lance Letscher, Charles Mary Kubricht, Jonathan Marshall, Nic Nicosia, Will Van Overbeek, Lordy Rodriguez, Margo Sawyer, Julie Speed, Charles Umlauf, Bob Wade, Liz Ward, and Ralph White. 

Currently on view in
Collection Selections

Significant national and international artists featured in the collection include Polly Apfelbaum, Dale Chihuly, Chuck Close, Donald Judd, Alex Katz, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Longo, Sol LeWitt, Nam June Paik, Julian Schnabel, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol, as well as photographers Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Lee Friedlander, Graciela Iturbide, Chris Jordan, Annie Leibovitz, and Russell Lee.

Thematic exhibitions highlighting the collection are presented every two to three years, either at AMOA-Downtown or at AMOA-Laguna Gloria. Recent collection exhibitions include People, Places, and Things; The Texas Landscape Across Five Generations; Color/Pattern/Grid: Selections from the Austin Museum of Art and Austin Collections; Again + Again: Cycles in Video and Light; and Modern Art. Modern Lives. Then + Now.  

In the future, the Austin Museum of Art will continue to selectively add works connected to community interests, key works already in the collection, and important past exhibitions. The Museum will also continue to provide its visitors with a vivid and engaging selection that reflects the Museum’s mission of educating and developing a broad audience for twentieth century and contemporary art.

Image Credits: (Top to Bottom)
Polly Apfelbaum, Townsville (detail), 2000, Velvet and dye, Dimensions variable, Collection of the Austin Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Mattsson-McHale Art Acquisition Endowment, Bettye H. Nowlin, and Lee M. Knox. Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 1999, Relief print with emboxxment printed on custom gray paper, edition 23 of 50, 25 1/4 x 20 inches, Collection of the Austin Museum of Art, Gift of the 2004 Director's Circle. Photography by Jeff Rowe/Austin Prints for Publication. Margo Sawyer, Blue (detail), 1998, Wood, tempera, gold and silver leaf on glass, Dimensions variable, Collection of the Austin Museum of Art, Partial gift of the artist; purchased with funds generously provided by Art Pace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art/San Antonio; Deborah and Tom Green; William F. Stern; Lee M. Knox; Juan and Carmen Creixell; and an anonymous donor. Photography by Paul Bardagjy, Austin. Michael Ray Charles, Ah Shinie Star, 1999, Acrylic laytex on paper, 60 x 48 inches, Collection of the Austin Museum of Art, Gift of the artist, 1999.