Walker Art Center

The Walker Art Center is one of the foremost contemporary art museums in the United States, with a collection that emphasises visual art, performance, film, and new media from the mid-20th century to the present. The permanent collection spans Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art through to current practice, with strong holdings in works by Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, and Jenny Holzer.

The adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is free and open year-round, covering eleven acres with sixty works including the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The garden connects via a pedestrian bridge over Hennepin Avenue to Loring Park. Gallery admission is charged; the garden and the park are free. Check the Walker's event calendar for film screenings, performances, and special exhibitions, which are frequently as interesting as the permanent collection.

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The Walker opened in 1927 as a private gallery, became public in 1940, and built its reputation through a series of visionary directors who prioritised living artists over safe historical collections. The building has been expanded twice — by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1971 and by Herzog & de Meuron in 2005. The Sculpture Garden opened in 1988 and the Spoonbridge and Cherry was installed that same year, immediately becoming the most photographed object in Minneapolis.

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