About

Exterior View of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 1972.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a non-collecting institution dedicated to presenting the best and most exciting international, national, and regional art. Founded in 1948, the Museum prides itself on presenting new art and documenting its role in modern life through exhibitions, lectures, original publications, and a variety of educational programs and events.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston occupies an iconic stainless steel building in the heart of the Houston Museum District. This highly recognizable building was designed for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston by the award-winning architect Gunnar Birkerts and opened in 1972.

Artist Sharon Englestein installing an ice sculpture for her 1992 solo exhibition, Boulean Unions.

Two gallery spaces offer eight to ten exhibitions each year. The Major Exhibition Series, presented in The Brown Foundation Gallery, features work by leading internationally-recognized artists working at the vanguard of contemporary art, as well as thematic exhibitions organized around questions central to the nature of art and life today. The Perspectives Series, presented in the Zilkha Gallery, introduces the work of emerging and established artists. Each exhibition is accompanied by an appropriate publication, designed for use by scholars and the general public, which provides lasting documentation of the exhibition and contributes to original knowledge and 
scholarship about contemporary art and the international discourse around it.