Weisman Art Museum
Frank Gehry’s stainless-steel landmark holds American modernism, ceramics, Korean furniture, Native art, and changing university exhibitions above the Mississippi.
Artwork inspired by George Morrison
The Weisman’s small scale makes it ideal for close looking. Its collection ranges from Marsden Hartley and Georgia O’Keeffe to major ceramics and contemporary work, while university exhibitions can connect art with research far beyond art history. Choose one material and follow how makers control surface.
Outside, the building changes radically between the campus brick façade and the river-facing metal forms. Walk both sides before leaving: Gehry’s architecture is not a neutral container, and the bridge, bluff, traffic, and reflected sky explain why the same museum appears almost ordinary from one approach and explosive from another.
- Admission
- Free
- Architect
- Frank Gehry
- Setting
- University of Minnesota
Quick guide
- Inside focus
- Follow one material across changing exhibitions
- Outside focus
- Compare Gehry’s campus and river façades
Read the collection and building from both sides
- Start with
- Walk the stainless-steel river façade before entering and watch its forms shift with viewpoint and reflected light.
- Look closely at
- Follow one material or formal question through the American modernist galleries rather than scanning for famous names.
- Connect the story
- Compare Mimbres ceramics with later pottery through use, surface, excavation history, and museum interpretation.
- Plan around
- Current exhibitions change frequently, and university events can make nearby parking unusually difficult.
Good to know
The dramatic metal façade faces the river; visitors arriving from campus can miss the view that made the building famous.
Notice these
- Stainless river façade
- American modernists
- Mimbres and ceramics holdings