Art museums will always be at the top of my travel itinerary… and Palm Springs was no exception!
The Palm Springs Art Museum surprised with its variety: Western art paired with mid-century furnishings, Native American weavings and Warhol, and Mesoamerican artifacts next to contemporary photography. The building’s layout encourages exploration but also has a time capsule feel (side note: you could buy your own “time capsule kit” in the Warhol pop-up store!). Art always transports me, and I was particularly drawn to artworks and portals in the collection: tunnels, lenses, and visual sinkholes (Chul-Hyan Ahn, Frederick Eversley, and Anish Kapoor, respectively). The permanent collection overall had some nods to local California artists along with more familiar modern and contemporary names.
The temporary exhibition of Warhol prints held some surprises, including:
- Warhol’s abstract Shadows I series from 1979 (“made with diamond dust,” a bystander commented… must fact-check that!)
- The bold installation design of silver and pink vertical stripes behind Mick Jagger’s wall of prints
- Warhol’s hand-drawn book about love stories, from Bonaparte to Oscar Wilde
- The dog, who while visiting the exhibition, pooped in the lobby. Seriously! The owner (and dog) seemed nonplussed, museum staff didn’t approach, and, well, I was indignant enough for all of them!
Canines aside, the pleasantly in-depth exhibition was well-suited to the beachy 70s-era vibes of our surroundings.
Other museum favorites:
- Michael Petry’s Golden Rain, with its secret messages from artists in each blown glass droplet
- Anthony Gormley’s Mother’s Pride IV, a sculpture of breadand wax that had an optical illusion feel
- Duane Hanson’s Old Couple on a Bench (I should have known better but definitely thought they were real upon first glance!)
- Jeffrey Gibson’s ALIVE!, a 52-foot decommissioned wind turbine blade
