6 Artists With Their Own Museums

Discover the artists flying solo in their very own museums

By Google Arts & Culture

Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) (1924-1925) by Joan MiróAlbright-Knox Art Gallery

Many artists toil their entire life without much recognition. But, through a combination of luck, graft, and inspiration, some attain near legendary status. Many in this latter group have had their work immortalized in museums dedicated solely to one artist.

Scroll on to discover the cream of the crop, from Bourdelle to Miro, who have been afforded the honor of a museum of their own...

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Musée Bourdelle

Antoine Bourdelle was a prolific French sculptor and an important figure in Art Deco. As a student of Auguste Rodin and a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, he formed the link between the 19th and 20th centuries. His old studio has since become the Musée Bourdelle.

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Located at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the Musée provides an example of Parisian ateliers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It holds more than 500 works including marble, plaster, and bronze statues, paintings, pastels, and sketches.

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Dalí Theatre and Museum

The artist Salvador Dalí was born in the town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain. The Dalí Theatre and Museum is dedicated to the work of this singular Surrealist. It is also his final resting place - Dalí is buried in a crypt below the theatre's stage.

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The heart of the museum is the town's theatre that Dalí visited as a child. It was where one of the first public exhibitions of Dalí's art was held. The theatre was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, and in 1969 was rebuilt as a monument to the town's most famous son.

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The Van Gogh Museum

Since opening in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum has welcomed millions of visitors to see the outstanding art of its namesake. The museum holds, without a doubt, the best collection of his works in the world, many of which had never left the Gogh family.

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Inside, rooms are ordered by theme and location. Telling a story of his movement across Europe, and through genres and styles of art. The building itself is the work of another Dutch master of art, Gerrit Rietveld, one of the principle artists of De Stijl.

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Frida Kahlo Museum

Frida Kahlo was born in this house, La Casa Azul, in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City - and later, would die here. In 1957, her former husband Diego Rivera donated the home and its contents in order to turn it into a museum in Kahlo's honour.

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The house is preserved much like it appeared in the 1950s, filled with Kahlo and Rivera's collection of contemporary Mexican folk art, pre-Hispanic artefacts, and personal effects, including the wheelchair and adjustable easel Kahlo used in her final years.

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Munch Museum

Oslo's Munch Museum opened its doors in 1963 to commemorate what would have been Munch's 100th birthday. Its collection consists of works and articles by Edvard Munch, which he donated to the municipality of Oslo upon his death, as well as art by his sister, Inger Munch.

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In 2008, the City of Oslo promoted an architectural competition for a new Munch Museum in the area of Bjørvika. After some politics, construction started in 2015, and the new Munch/Stenersen museum is expected to be open by the end of 2020.

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Fundació Joan Miró

The Fundació Joan Miró crowns the hill of Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The building's rough, breton-brut concrete forms, designed by Josep Lluís Sert, make a lasting impression, and seem to protect the delicate, colourful artworks within.

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Miro died in 1975, and the building was expanded in 1986 to create an auditorium as well as a library containing some of the 10,000 items in the Foundation and Miró's collection. It also hosts a space named Espai 13, dedicated to the work of young, experimental artists.

Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) (1924-1925) by Joan MiróAlbright-Knox Art Gallery

Now step from the museums to the studios and discover where 9 famous artists created their best works.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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