The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the city's cultural district in a building designed by architect Tadao Ando which opened to the public in 2002. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums[2] and holds a permanent collection with more than 3,000 works of art.[3]
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was first granted a Charter from the State of Texas in 1892 as the "Fort Worth Public Library and Art Gallery", evolving through several name changes and different facilities in Fort Worth. The mission of the museum is "collecting, presenting and interpreting international developments in post-World War II art in all media."
The museum's current building was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and opened to the public on Saturday, December 14, 2002. Michael Auping, (chief curator at the museum from 1993 - 2017),[4] worked closely with Ando during the five-year design process to ensure that the interior spaces would also meet the display needs of the curators and artists.[3] The building features three long pavilions set into a reflecting pond and provides 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) of gallery space for exhibitions. In 2019, the building was selected as the Best Designed Building in Texas by Architectural Digest.[5] Ando's structure is located within the city's Cultural District, home to the adjacent Kimbell Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum.[6]
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth maintains one of the foremost collections of international modern and contemporary art in the central United States.[6] The majority of works in the collection are dated in between 1945 and present.[7] Various movements, themes, and styles are represented, including abstract expressionism, color field painting, pop art, and minimalism, as well as aspects of new image painting from the 1970s and beyond, recent developments in abstraction and figurative sculpture, and contemporary movements in photography, video, and digital imagery.
