Denver's Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art Is Worth a Visit
The museum features work by artist Vance Kirkland along with 1,500 other artists and designers.
Just down the street from the sleek, futuristic Denver Art Museum, the squat Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art looks modest by comparison. But walk in, and you’ll find a vast, delightfully hodgepodge collection. Built as a monument to Colorado art, the institute shows works by the late Denver painter Vance Kirkland and other local artists, alongside furniture, fashion, and decor from around the world.
Vance Kirkland paintings with decorative furniture.
It’s easy to be seduced by the superstar art—the pitcher designed by Picasso, the bottle wrapped with a Lichtenstein print—but don’t miss Kirkland’s studio in back. Here, four straps hang from the ceiling. The painter would use the loops to suspend himself facedown above huge canvases to create his bright, cosmic-inspired works (pictured). Nearby you’ll see his books, paintbrushes, and inadvertently splattered chairs. The scene looks realistic because it is: When the museum relocated here last year, movers transported the entire studio in one piece.