The Menil Collection

The Menil Collection opened to the public in 1987 as the primary repository of John and Dominique de Menil's private collection of more than 16,000 works from the Paleolithic era to the present day. This book highlights the influential building designed by Renzo Piano, which houses the collection. Piano created a system of ceiling louvers, skylights, and expansive windows, which modulate the bright Texan sun and gently suffuse the galleries with what Dominique de Menil called "living light."
Also illustrated are other important spaces accompanying the museum: the Cy Twombly Gallery, designed by Renzo Piano as an exhibition annex for a permanent installation of artist Cy Twombly's work; Richmond Hall, which holds three site-specific works by Dan Flavin; The Rothko Chapel, founded by the de Menils and dedicated as a nondenominational sanctuary in 1971, which contains fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko; and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, a repository for the only complete thirteenth-century Byzantine frescoes in the Western hemisphere. The combined "campus" of buildings remains a place of pilgrimage for art enthusiasts from around the world. The Menil Collection is an ideal addition to Scala's Art Spaces series, which covers the remarkable architecture of buildings that house works of art.

Clare Elliott is Assistant Curator of The Menil Collection; Miranda Lash is Curatorial Assistant.