Houston offers a diverse array of art museums, many of which are free to visit. Alongside big collections such as the Menil Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the city offers a range of more focused art museums devoted to photography, crafts and folk art, decorative arts and more.
Neighborhood: Washington Avenue Coalition/Memorial Park
Address: 140 Heights Boulevard, Houston, TX 77007
Website: artcarmuseum.com
Houston’s Art Car Museum is one of the city’s more distinctive art museums, centered around the display of vehicles modified by their owners as an act of self-expression, along with other works by less well-known artists and occasional special exhibitions.
Neighborhood: University Place
Address: 5216 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, TX 77006
Website: camh.org
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston presents a rotating selection of exhibitions focused on art created in recent years, divided between exhibitions of work by internationally-known artists, and established and emerging artists, alongside some thematic exhibitions.
The museum also offers a program of special events, including performances, workshops, panel discussions and other activities.
Neighborhood: Neartown - Montrose
Address: 1501 Branard Street, Houston, TX 77006
Website: menil.org
The Cy Twombly Gallery, an off-site gallery of the The Menil Collection, was specially designed to showcase the works of a single artist, the American painter and sculptor Cy Twombly, best known for his calligraphic paintings inspired by the classical period of Mediterranean history.
The works on display, dating from the second half of the twentieth century, show the breadth and evolution of his art, and include paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Neighborhood: University Place
Address: 4848 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
Website: crafthouston.org
The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft showcases recent craft works across a variety of media, with several rotating exhibitions each year exploring the intersection of traditional craft techniques and contemporary art.
One of the Center’s more unusual attractions is its Craft Garden, featuring plants used in the creation of baskets, paper, textiles and dyes. Workshops, artist talks, special guided tours of the exhibitions and other events are also available.
Neighborhood: Neartown - Montrose
Address: 1441 West Alabama Street, Houston, TX 77006
Website: hcponline.org
The Houston Center for Photography focuses on contemporary fine art photography, its free galleries showing a selection of rotating exhibitions, featuring the work of emerging and established artists, throughout the year. The Center also offers various public programs, including photography workshops, artist talks, print sales and community events.
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 4807 Caroline Street, Houston, TX 77004
Website: hmaac.org
This museum explores the art, culture, and lived experience of people of African descent in Houston, the Southwest, and beyond, through a series of rotating and permanent art exhibits, film screenings, and special events including lectures and panel discussions.
Neighborhood: Neartown - Montrose
Address: 1533 Sul Ross Street, Houston, TX 77006
Website: menil.org
One of Houston’s flagship art museums, The Menil Collection is home to an extensive and varies collection of art from across the world and human history, from the early art of ancient civilizations to pieces by some of the best-known 20th century artists such as Picasso, Magritte and Warhol.
The Menil Collection’s main campus is home to the bulk of the permanent collection and to many of the museum’s rotating special exhibitions. Adjacent is peaceful Menil Park, with several outdoor sculptures. The Menil Collection also encompasses several other spaces, including the Menil Drawing Institute, which hosts exhibitions and public programs and the Cy Twombly Gallery (see above).
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 1370 Southmore Boulevard, Houston, TX 77004
Website: asiasociety.org
The Asia Society Texas Center explores the arts and cultures of Asia through a series of permanent and rotating art exhibits plus a full calendar of cultural programming, including concerts and performances, Asian heritage festivals, film screenings, talks, workshops, food events and more.
Neighborhood: Washington Avenue Coalition/Memorial Park
Address: 6003 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77007
Website: mfah.org
Part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens is located away from the main museum campus in the former home of local philanthropist Ima Hogg, which she donated, along with her art collection, to the museum in 1957.
Set within 14 acres of gardens, the house showcases a collection of American decorative arts, including furnishings, paintings, ceramics, sculptures, textiles and silver dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. The gardens, designed by Hogg herself, consist of a series of formally-planted garden “rooms”, alongside preserved sections of the natural woodland ravines that originally surrounded the home.
Neighborhood: Greenway/Upper Kirby Area
Address: 3303 Kirby Dr, Houston, TX 77098
Website: colorfactory.co
Color Factory Houston, an interactive art exhibition with branches in several US locations, offers a different and family-friendly way for visitors to engage with art, with a series of immersive installations reflecting the colors and culture of Texas.
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 4920 San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX, 77004
Website: czechcenter.org
The Czech Center Museum Houston is an art museum and cultural center devoted to the the Czech and Slovak people, with exhibits including paintings, folk art, decorative glass and porcelain and traditional pottery from the 18th century onwards.
The Center also hosts rotating exhibitions of art and designed objects and the history and culture of central Europe, plus a range of special events including concerts, workshops, festivals and more.
Neighborhood: Afton Oaks/River Oaks Area
Address: 1406 Kirby Drive, Houston, TX 77019
Website: mfah.org
This well-preserved 1952 house museum, an outpost of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, showcases the extensive collection of European decorative arts, paintings and sculptures of the home’s former owners, Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III.
The house and its collections can be seen on guided or self-guided tours. The 4.4-acre Rienzi Gardens, appealing in their own right and presenting a combination of formal plantings and natural Texan woodland, can be visited for free.
Neighborhood: University Place
Address: 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005
Website: mfah.org
The Museum of Fine Arts, Texas's oldest art museum and one of the biggest such museums in the country (and the world), is home to an enormous collection featuring tens of thousands of art works covering the entire span of recorded human history.
The collection is divided across several buildings (plus two off-site locations, the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and the Rienzi House). Its focuses include Islamic art, African art, art by the indigenous groups of North and South America, American painting and sculpture, modern art, photography, and works by European Old Masters. The museum also hosts several special exhibitions per year.
Neighborhood: Gulfgate Riverview/Pine Valley
Address: 2401 Munger Street, Houston, TX 77023
Website: orangeshow.org
One of Houston’s most distinctive attractions, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art represents the lifetime work of postal worker turned folk artist Jeff McKissack. At its center is the The Orange Show monument, a maze-like structure created from a variety of found objects and building materials over a twenty-year period, inspired by McKissack’s favorite fruit.
The Center now serves as a hub for folk and outsider art, encouraging community engagement through a series of special events, including the hugely popular Art Car Parade, artist and other creator talks, workshops, and other public programs. It also operates two other Houston art attractions, the Beer Can House and Smither Park art park.