During your visit to the art museum explore an impressive permanent collection of more than 5,000 works of art as well as world-class travelling exhibitions. The Art Garden is a versatile, open, outdoor space that serves as the nexus of a cultural district that empowers creativity, expression and synergy in the arts community. The Mississippi Museum of Art also offers unique dining and shopping experiences at The Palette Café by Viking and in The Museum Store.
The Mississippi Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection
The Mississippi Museum of Art has compiled an impressive collection of American art including paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Arthur Davies, Robert Henri, George Inness, Georgia O'Keeffe, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Sully and James McNeill Whistler. The art museum’s photographs, prints and unique works on paper include pieces by Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Mary Cassatt, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol. Among the Museum’s sculptures are works by John DeAndrea, Malvina Hoffman, Paul Manship, Elizabeth Catlett Mora and Reuben Nakian. Additional works within the Mississippi Museum of Art’s permanent collection include American Indian baskets and over 170 southeast outsider art objects including works by artists Annie Dennis, Howard Finster, Earl Simmons, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Sarah Mary Taylor and Mose Tolliver.
Exhibitions
The Mississippi Story
The Mississippi Story is comprised of more than 200 works of art from the Museum’s permanent collection, offering you the opportunity to explore the remarkable history of visual arts in the Magnolia State as well as fulfilling its mission of “engaging Mississippians in the visual arts.” The Mississippi Story includes more than 300 objects and is grouped thematically into four sections: Mississippi’s Landscape, Mississippi’s People, Life in Mississippi and Exporting Mississippi’s Culture.
William Dunlap’s Panorama of the American Landscape
The panorama of the American Landscape in the neoclassical rotunda of the Corcoran Gallery of Art was created by William Dunlap in 1984. The panorama is comprised of 14 canvases and is 11 feet tall and 55 feet wide. The panorama illustrates the hunt country of Virginia at eye-level. Look up to view the harsh winter landscape of the Antietam battlefield. In addition to the panorama, a 28-minute video, The Painter’s Landscape, will orient you with the panorama and the painter.
Pre-Columbian Ceramics
As you enter into the Museum’s lobby you will come across objects from ancient cultures which flourished in Peru, Mexico and Central America prior to the arrival of Europeans. The core of the collection is comprised of Peruvian pre-Columbian ceramics, gifted and loaned to the Mississippi Museum of Art by Sam Olden of Yazoo City, Mississippi. Objects representing Mesoamerican cultures, including the Maya and Olmec are also on display.
Four Freedoms by Mildred Nungester Wolfe
Mildred Nungester Wolfe’s four-panel mural, Four Freedoms, was inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Annual Message to Congress in 1941. During the speech, Roosevelt spoke of a future founded upon four freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The four-panel piece originally hung in the B.M. Steven Company store in Richton, Mississippi and was later donated to the art museum by Wolfe’s family.
The Art Garden
The Art Garden is a versatile, open, outdoor space that serves as the nexus of a cultural district empowering creativity, expression and synergy in the arts community. Enjoy a welcoming lawn, seasonal foliage, native garden beds, permanent art installations and soothing fountains.
Enjoy a snack or lunch at the vibrant Palette Café by Viking, offering visitors a place to sit and relax inside and on the Café’s patio and terrace that spill into the downtown cultural district. Palette Café’s menu combines fresh, local ingredients with international influences creating a delicious selection of soups, salads and sandwiches.
Shopping at the Museum Store
Be sure to stop by the Museum Store. Products commemorating Freedom Summer and the 1960s, scarves designed by Walter Anderson, books and Mississippi products are available to purchase.
Travel Tip
- In addition to its ongoing exhibits, the Mississippi Museum of Art hosts special exhibits that support its core theme throughout the year.