The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, has announced that it will open its long-awaited expansion on 6 June 2026. Filling some of the newly created space—increasing the museum’s size by 50%—will be hundreds of works recently given to the museum. A majority of this new art, more than 200 pieces by over 100 artists, comes from the Dallas-based collectors Candace and Michael Humphreys, a retired venture capitalist. It is the largest gift in the museum’s history.
The museum’s expansion, announced in 2021 and begun the following year, adds 114,000 sq. ft of space. Like the original 2011 Crystal Bridges building, the new addition was designed by Safdie Architects. Although the cost of the expansion has not been made public, Arkansas Business estimated it at more than $100m in 2021. The museum has remained open to the public throughout construction, while it has been reinstalling many of its galleries.
“We could not be more delighted to see how the museum, its collection and the surrounding landscape have grown together to create what has been described as a happy building,” Moshe Safdie, the founding partner of Safdie Architects, said in a statement. “With the addition of diverse galleries, workshops and gardens, the expansion exponentially expands the museum’s mission of serving as a centrepiece of communal and cultural life.”
The Humphreys’ gift of more than 200 works of art spans a variety of media, including painting, photography, textiles, ceramics, glass and prints. Outdoor sculptures by artists including Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Tom Otterness and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith will be added to the museum’s network of trails and gardens.
Tom Otterness’s Carousel (2017), a gift from the Humphreys, will be installed on the Crystal Bridges grounds
Photo: Emily Followill, courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Other artists whose works have been donated by the Humphreys include Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Catlett, Nicholas Galanin, Theaster Gates, Barkley L. Hendricks, William H. Johnson, Alex Katz, Jacob Lawrence, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Marisol, Josiah McElheny, Ivań Navarro, Alice Neel, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Do Ho Suh and Andy Warhol.
A space at Crystal Bridges will be named the Candace P. and W. Michael Humphreys Gallery in honour of the collectors.
“We are proud that these works we’ve cherished will engage, challenge and inspire audiences at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, now and far into the future,” the Humphreys said in a joint statement. “It is an honour to support the museum’s vital mission during this exciting period of its evolution.”
An additional gift comes from the museum’s chair, Olivia Walton, and her husband, Tom. They have donated 18 works by women artists—including Yayoi Kusama, Alice Neel and Njideka Akunyili Crosby—in memory of Olivia’s mother, the gallerist and model Monique Knowlton. Knowlton had shown works by three of the artists included in the gift (Betye Saar, Elaine Reichek and Helen Oji) in her gallery in New York. She died last year at age 87.
