The Menil Collection occupies a quiet residential block in Montrose — a purpose-built Renzo Piano building from 1987, low and grey with diffuse natural light filtering through cypress-louver ceilings. The permanent collection of 17,000 works includes exceptional holdings in Byzantine art, Surrealism (including the world's largest collection of René Magritte works outside Belgium), African and Pacific art, and American minimalism.
The Rothko Chapel, an octagonal meditation space hung with fourteen monumental Mark Rothko paintings, is next door and open to all faiths. Both are free. The neighbourhood around them — a grid of 1930s bungalows and later mid-century houses donated by the de Menils to the Menil Foundation and painted a distinctive grey-white — is worth walking through. Allow 2 hours minimum for the collection.