Clyfford Still Museum

Home to one of the world’s most intact public collections of any major artist, the Clyfford Still Museum offers nine beautiful galleries of Still’s art, historic photos, objects, and letters from the Clyfford Still Archives, interactive features, a pair of tranquil outdoor terraces, views into storage and conservation areas, a hands-on art creation studio, shopping, exciting programs and events, and more.

The Clyfford Still Museum is located in Denver’s Golden Triangle Creative District. Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture designed the two-story, 28,500-square-foot building specifically to display Clyfford Still’s work.

Considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century, Clyfford Still (1904–1980) was among the first generation of Abstract Expressionist artists. The Clyfford Still Museum collection represents 93 percent of the artist’s lifetime output, including approximately 3,125 works created between 1920 and 1980 and his complete archives.

Current Exhibition:

Dialogue and Defiance: Clyfford Still and the Abstract Expressionists
Guest Curated by Valerie Hellstein
May 10, 2024–January 12, 2025
Clyfford Still withdrew his paintings from the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1951, refusing to participate in a market prioritizing the fame of an artist and the price of their artworks. The following year, he surprised many by agreeing to participate in a group show at the Museum of Modern Art. His rationale for doing so was because the curator, Dorothy Miller, agreed to show Still’s works together in their own gallery. As Still saw it, his work could be viewed on its own terms and not in direct comparison to other artists—but visitors could still see the scope of American painting in the mid-century. Even with his turn away from the art world, Still saw himself participating in something larger and remained in dialogue with his contemporaries. This exhibition considers the nuanced ways in which Clyfford Still was part of an artists’ community in the late 1940s and early 1950s, despite his protestations to the contrary, and how his paintings, through their scale and composition, promote ideas of community.

Upcoming Exhibitions:

Held Impermanence (Artists Select: Katherine Simóne Reynolds)
January 25–September 14, 2025
In this guest-curated exhibition, award-winning artist, filmmaker, and performer Katherine Simóne Reynolds will illuminate the competing desires held in constant tension at the Clyfford Still Museum by reflecting on Still’s ambitious attempt to keep his collection intact. Held Impermanence will ask visitors to consider healing and rest over time and how we respond to this collection with our bodies. Reynolds’ exhibition will challenge visitors to contend with Still’s mortality and their own while considering the shared desire to hold on to impermanence. Reynolds has curated and exhibited extensively, including at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Counterpublic, and the Luminary in St. Louis; SculptureCenter, Long Island City; and has collaborated on performances at MoMA and the Kitchen, New York. Most recently, she had her solo exhibition at the Graham Foundation, Chicago. In addition to Held Impermanence, Reynolds has curated the exhibition It’s a fine thing at the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, opening February 2025.

Colville Children Curate
September 19, 2025–May 10, 2026
Colville Children Curate is a collaborative exhibition co-curated with youth from the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington state. The show highlights the perspectives of Colville children on Still’s depictions of their ancestors and their home, as well as the artist’s abstract works. The Museum’s curatorial and education staff worked with children ages three to fourteen, and teachers from partner schools and childcare centers on the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation on every level of the exhibition—artwork selection and arrangement, object interpretation, and gallery text. This exhibition, installed in all nine of the Museum’s galleries, investigates six themes the co-curators identified. The exhibition continues CSM’s efforts to foster engagement with its collections by sharing authority on Still’s work with the Museum’s critical communities.