A world-class collection of American art, stunning architecture, and 120 acres of Ozark forest with five miles of trails. Admission to the museum is always free.
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There’s more to the museum than just the galleries— come enjoy hands-on creative fun with art classes for all ages and experience levels..
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Crystal Bridges members receive year-round perks, invitations to member-only events, travel opportunities, and more!
Museum & Buildings
Trails and Grounds open daily sunrise to sunset.
For over 250 years, artists have been inspired to capture the beauty, violence, poetry, and transformative power of the sea in American life. Oceans play a key role in American society no matter where we live, and still today, the sea continues to inspire painters to capture its mystery and power.
In American Waters is a new exhibition in which marine painting is revealed to be so much more than ship portraits. Be transported across time and water on the wave of a diverse range of modern and historical artists including Georgia O’Keeffe, Amy Sherald, Kay WalkingStick, Norman Rockwell, Hale Woodruff, Paul Cadmus, Thomas Hart Benton, Jacob Lawrence, Valerie Hegarty, Stuart Davis, and many more. Discover the sea as an expansive way to reflect on American culture and environment, learn how coastal and maritime symbols moved inland across the United States, and consider what it means to be “in American waters.”
In American Waters is co-created by Austen Bailly, chief curator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Daniel Finamore, The Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History, Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The exhibition debuted at Peabody Essex Museum on May 29, 2021, and is accompanied by a major multi-author illustrated publication published by Crystal Bridges and the University of Arkansas Press.
This exhibition is co-organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
Members, SNAP participants, Veterans, and Youth 18 and Under: FREE
SNAP participants, please call (479) 657-2335 to enroll for free entry to temporary exhibitions.
Not a member? Join today!
Per CDC’s updated guidelines, we are now requiring all guests ages 2 and up and staff to wear a face covering indoors and while attending outdoor programs, except while eating or drinking. Masks will be available upon entry for those who do not have one.
Learn more about the natural springs found across Arkansas, inspired by our current exhibition In American Waters.
Learn more about the artist who created the iconic pirate look we know today.
PEMcast producer Dinah Cardin asked Crystal Bridges visitors: what is your experience with the sea?
In American Waters opens today at Peabody Essex Museum. Check out their PEMcast episode here.
Bob and Becky Alexander, Harrison and Rhonda French Family, Marybeth and Micky Mayfield, Sue and Charles Redfield, Jeff and Sarah Teague | Citizens Bank, and James Zigras.
Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865) Southern Cross in Boston Harbor, 1851 Oil on canvas 25 1/4 x 38 in. (64.1 x 96.5 cm) Gift of Stephen Wheatland, 1987 M18639 Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum
Edward Moran (1829 – 1901) The Valley in the Sea, 1862 Oil on canvas 49 ¼ x 73 ¼ x 4 ¼ in. (125.1 x 186.1 x 10.8 cm) Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Martha Delzell Memorial Fund, 70.5, DiscoverNewfields.org
Jan Matulka View from Ship, about 1932 Oil on canvas 36 × 30 in. (91.4 × 76.2 cm) Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of C. K. Williams II, 2015-8-1 Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Reproduced with Permission, The Estate of Jan Matulka.
James Bard (1815-1897) Steamer Syracuse, 1857 Oil on canvas 29 1/4 × 51 1/4 in. (74.3 × 130.2 cm) Gift of the estate of Francis B. C. Bradlee, 1928 M4266 Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum
Howard Pyle (1853-1911) Marooned, 1909 Oil on canvas 40 x 60 in. Delaware Art Museum Museum Purchase, 1912
