A Century of Vision at the New Mexico Museum of Art

Just off the Santa Fe Plaza stands a building nearly as celebrated as the art inside it. The New Mexico Museum of Art, opened in 1917 in a landmark Pueblo Revival design, tells the story of how artists from around the world fell for this landscape — and helped invent the idea of Santa Fe as an art colony.

A building that started a style

The museum's own architecture, inspired by the old mission churches, helped launch the Pueblo Revival movement that shaped the look of modern Santa Fe. It's worth studying the walls before you even reach the galleries.

The museum's own walls were the first great work of art it ever displayed.

The artists who came

The collection traces the painters and photographers who arrived in the early twentieth century and made New Mexico their subject, drawn by the famous light and the layered cultures. Their work essentially built the region's artistic reputation.

Still evolving

Far from a dusty archive, the museum mounts changing exhibitions that connect that founding generation to living artists, keeping the century-old conversation about this place and its light very much alive.

Field notes

• Study the landmark building itself, not just the collection.
• It sits steps from the Plaza — easy to combine with a walk.
• Check for changing exhibitions before you go.

To understand why so many artists came to New Mexico and never left, start here. A century on, the museum is still making the case for this singular corner of the world.