Clyfford Still Museum

The first-generation Abstract Expressionist Clyfford Still spent his life refusing to sell most of his work; when he died in 1980 his widow held an enormous, all-but-unseen estate. The result, decades later, is this quiet, single-artist museum next door to the DAM — a deliberately restrained concrete building by Brad Cloepfil that lets the paintings dominate.

The galleries rotate sections of the estate, so what you see depends on when you visit, but you're guaranteed several of Still's signature large vertical canvases of cracked colour. Plan an hour or so; the museum is small enough to absorb at a single visit and pairs naturally with the DAM next door. Combined tickets are available.

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A story
Still's will stipulated that his entire estate — some 3,125 works, or about 95 percent of his lifetime output — could only be released to an American city willing to build a single museum dedicated solely to him. Denver beat out a long list of contenders in 2004.