Clyfford Still Museum

Years in Business: 12.5 years
Meet the Director: Joyce Tsai, internationally-acclaimed curator, scholar, and teacher.

Still was among the first generation of Abstract Expressionists who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately following World War II. Still did not name his works because he wanted people to make their own interpretations of his art. His contemporaries included Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. In the early 1950s, Still severed ties with commercial galleries and in 1961 moved to Maryland, mostly removing himself from the art establishment. After the artist’s death in 1980, the Clyfford Still Estate was sealed off from public and scholarly view. His will stipulated that his entire collection be given to an American city willing to establish a permanent museum dedicated exclusively to the care and display of his art. Clyfford Still wanted the majority of his work to remain together because he strongly believed an artist’s work is best understood when it is experienced in its entirety. More than 20 cities contended to receive the collection, and in 2004, Still’s wife Patricia, chose Denver to receive the collection. The Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) broke ground in 2009 and opened its doors in the heart of Denver’s Golden Triangle Creative District on November 18, 2011. Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture designed the 28,500-square-foot building specifically to display Still’s artwork. The Clyfford Still Museum collection represents more than 93 percent of the artist’s lifetime output, including approximately 3,125 works created between 1920 and 1980 as well as his complete archives. The Museum offers nine galleries of Still’s art, archives, interactive features, tranquil outdoor terraces, views into storage and conservation areas, a hands-on art creation studio for all ages, shopping, programs and events, and more.

Services provided:
Art for All
All children 17 and under are always admitted free Free Days and Pay-What-You-Wish Days
Art Crawl Sessions
Maker Mornings Family Programs
Music in the Galleries
Summer Lawn Concerts
Making Space Studio
Tactile Books
Free Bilingual Family Activity Guide,
inStill School Programs

How important is it to have a place like this for families, especially for children? Clyfford Still left his collection, 93% of everything he ever created, to an American City and the Clyfford Still Museum remains focused on making every community member feel a sense of belonging, regardless of age. Everyone in our community should have a first art museum; why shouldn’t it be us?

What do you enjoy the most about having the Museum in our city? The artwork belongs to the City and County of Denver, so this truly is a Museum for the community. We believe this is art for all, regardless of age. Clyfford Still wanted people to use their imaginations and make their own opinions about his art. Young children are experts in abstract art, which is what Clyfford Still is best known for creating. This means that children can guide their adults at the Museum.

What’s next for the Museum? Last year, the Museum received a three-year Museums for America award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to help the Museum expand Art Crawl access into community spaces during the next few years. The expansion will remove barriers to participation and help the community see the Museum as a resource for infants and families. The Museum’s Learning and Engagement team has started developing a pre-K inStill school program, which we will pilot in fall 2024 and launch in 2025. The Museum is also working with children in the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State to co-curate an exhibition, opening in September 2025. Several of the young co-curators are descendants of the people Clyfford Still sketched in the 1930s on the Colville Reservation. The Museum will also present two guest-curated exhibitions in 2024 and 2025.