Welcome to the Anderson Collection
Stanford University's free museum of modern and contemporary American art

Open Wed - Sun

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Advance reservations not required.
Click here for group visits.

Artwork

Barrier

News

Hunk, Moo Anderson give modern art masterpieces to Stanford

…canvas of fluttering red lozenge shapes; a stately black-on-black square canvas by Ad Reinhardt; and a sculpture in silver, an abstracted clock face, by David Smith. ‘The pick of the litter’ The rapacity of top-tier collectors in the present gilded age effectively makes the market value of the Anderson Collection incalculable. But “for us, it’s not about how much, but how good,” Hunk said of the family’s acquis…

Artwork

The Tale

Artwork

Sky Garden

Artwork

Window

News

The Museum of Hunk, Moo & Putter: The Anderson Collection at Stanford will Rock You

…ific groupings. In the public museum, art history has been obliterated, sometimes for the better creating a more inclusive, more diverse purview, and sometimes for worse by diluting the museum’s voice to having no coherent point of view. In this one might compare the Museum of Modern Art under Alfred Barr to its present incarnation, crowded and thronged with attendees but much less powerful of an experience. As a result (and perhaps for tax reaso…

How the Stanford Arts District grew from a midair inspiration

Volunteer Opportunities

On Elite Campuses, an Arts Race

News

The Anderson Collection at Stanford: An Uplifting Experience

…e second floor galleries — lit from above by a rim of semi-transparent clerestory windows — serenely perfect. The Anderson Collection building is spacious, elegant and perfectly in tune with the collection it houses. One of the effects of the flowing “open room” gallery layout is that it creates a sense of egalitarianism that encourages each visitor to experience both individual works and groupings in their own way. In oth…

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Hot Art Bling the New Thing on the Peninsula

…y place where truly exciting things are happening on the visual arts front. Super-star artist James Turrell, for instance, is touching down in Palo Alto with a pocket-sized exhibition this week, ahead of a major retrospective of his work at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in late May. Turrell is famous for his meditations on light and space that play with your depth perception. Take the most eye-catching piece in the inaugural show at the ne…

Self-Guided Tours Developed by Stanford Students

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A private art collection becomes a Stanford collection on Sunday, Sept. 21

…ding exclusively for the collection within the expanding arts district, and over the summer the collection moved in. The building is adjacent to Cantor Arts Center and the planned McMurtry Building for the Department of Art and Art History (opening in 2015), and across Palm Drive from Bing Concert Hall. Total cost for construction of the building for the Anderson Collection is $36 million. The addition of this remarkable collection on campus help…

Construction on Anderson Collection art museum begins

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Stanford unveils the Anderson Collection: New museum dedicated to renowned works of American art

…amassed as a “collection of collections,” acknowledging the couple’s broad rather than narrow interests, their eye for artistic innovation as much as anything.  Since the collection is idiosyncratic and personal, explained architect Olcott, he focused his design for the museum on three goals: “informality, casualness and accessibility.” The museum, he says, “reflects the way the Andersons lived with art in the…

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Instead of Changing Leaves, Peep Eight Bay Area Art Shows this Fall

Fall, a season experienced in other climates as crisp weather, woolly sweaters, crunchy leaves and autumnally-appropriate spiced drinks. Here in the Bay Area, September is much the same as August, except with more exciting visual art events on the calendar and a slight spike in temperatures. Don’t know where to start for a healthy dose of excellent art? Here are eight suggestions for not-to-miss exhibitions, installations, public art projects an…

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‘Formed & Fired: Contemporary American Ceramics’ at the Anderson Collection breaks the mold

…came to the forefront this year. I can’t help but want to be in the galleries to look at his work really closely in response. In addition, his use of news clippings illustrates this moment of reckoning in our country. “Not to mention that views on the tactile have changed so much in the last six months,” Shapiro continued. “The handmade is more meaningful now – and perhaps is even more so when you consider how purposeful these artists utilize for…

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Stanford’s Anderson Collection museum to feature trove of couple’s art

…rhol and others were donated to the museum in 1992 and seven Frank Stella paintings from 1959 to 1988 were given in 2001. Much of their collection was shown at the museum in 2000, in “Celebrating Modern Art: The Anderson Collection.” (They also collected prints and gave more than 650 to San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museums in 1996, which transferred them to the De Young.) However, what the Andersons call their “core collectio…

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Harry W. “Hunk” Anderson dies at 95

…efully, this gift makes a great university greater, and the world a grain of salt better.” “Hunk Anderson had an infectious enthusiasm and passion for art, and for sharing art to benefit society broadly,” said Stanford President Emeritus John Hennessy. “He just lit up whenever he described what each work meant, and how it inspired creativity. It was this shared passion that bonded us, as we met through our mutual interest in visual arts. Hunk’s i…

News

How to find love at the Anderson Collection

…k, the Anderson Collection at Stanford University opened its doors for the first time. The Andersons didn’t know much about art at first, but they suffered something of a coup de foudre at the Louvre in 1964. Since then, Hunk, Moo and Putter have devoted themselves to the art of art appreciation, partly by seeking advice from local artists. Perhaps this is why much of the collection is focused “close to home.” Works by Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Wo…