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.

News

A Private Passion Goes Public: Stanford’s Anderson Collection

by Carol Strickland The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, designed by Richard Olcott of Ennead Architects. Photo Tim Griffith.  ADVERTISEMENT Stanford University, a hub of innovative entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley and the origin of the “sharing economy” (think Uber and Airbnb), is now home to a magnificent example of art sharing. The Anderson Collection, a new museum that is part of Stanford’s pu…

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Showcases for Art in Silicon Valley: At Stanford University, an Arts District Grows

Showcases for Art in Silicon Valley At Stanford University, an Arts District Grows By JORI FINKEL NOV. 13, 2014 PALO ALTO, Calif. — The birthplace of Yahoo and Google, Stanford University is now ramping up and showing off its cultural resources. Construction of a $235 million arts district near Palm Drive, the grand tree-lined campus entrance, is well underway here. Last year, the $112 million Bing Concert Hall opened. This year came th…

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A Dorm-Food Fortune Has Funded the Best New Museum in Silicon Valley

Contrary to popular belief, Stanford isn’t strictly a Silicon Valley trade school for Internet billionaires. It also trains Internet millionaires—as well as, believe it or not, thousandaire philosophers, journalists, and artists! Because aside from computer science and electrical engineering, Stanford offers degrees in a full range of humanities disciplines, including the fine arts. To that end, two months ago the university opened a small, gl…

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Senate visits the arts district to discuss the humanities

Senate visits the arts district to discuss the humanities Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Debra Satz, senior associate dean for the humanities and arts, talked about the state of the humanities at Stanford. Jason Linetzky, director of the Anderson Collection, invited faculty members to collaborate with its staff and create new programs. BY KATHLEEN J. SULLIVAN Richard Saller and Debra Satz addressing the F…

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Anderson Collection a modern art trove not to be missed

About twice a month, Mary Margaret Anderson pays a visit to the museum on the Stanford campus that bears her last name. Moo, as she is better known, usually chats with the staff before declaring, “I’m off to see my friends.” Those friends are the more than 100 works of art, including paintings and sculptures, that she and her husband, Harry (“Hunk”), along with their daughter, Mary Patricia (“Putter”) Anderson Pence, gave to the university sever…

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Free Museums’ Membership for the Class of 2020!

The Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection at Stanford University miss seeing you. We are eager to welcome you back to campus, share art and connect over ideas. Now through August 31, 2020, we are offering all Stanford graduates in the class of 2020 one year of free Ambassador membership ($100 value*) to both museums. Each membership covers up to two adults and children within a single household. To get your FREE membership, fill out t…

Become a member!

Family Programs

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Anderson Collection opens to public on Sept. 21

The Anderson Collection opens to the public at its new Stanford University home this Sunday, Sept. 21, in a freestanding pavilion next to the Cantor Arts Center in the University’s growing arts district. Members of the Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection can also attend a special preview of the museum on Sept. 20. Opening day festivities will include food trucks, music, activities and digital tours. Admission is free, and while visito…

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A&E Digest

A&E Digest: Student scholarships, fashion for a cause and more This week’s A&E news by Elizabeth Schwyzer / Palo Alto Weekly Twenty-seven student artists from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties have been awarded scholarships for by the Community School of Music and Arts. Photo courtesy of CSMA. This week, students win art scholarships, a film on feminist art screens at Stanford and international fashion designers sell their goods…

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

Tom Teicholz Contributor Arts I write about culture and the cult of luxury On a recent trip to San Francisco, I decided to make a short detour to the Anderson Collection at Stanford University (easily reachable by public transport from San Francisco or from the airport) – it is very much worth the trip. The Anderson Collection is very much focused on American Art of the 20thCentury in general, with a specific concentration on West Coast…

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

From ancient pottery and medicinal clay to 3D-printed joints and pajamas that restore athletes’ muscles, the use of ceramics for objects rooted in decoration, ritual and utility is as old as it is expansive. The practices of four living artists whose exploration of the medium provides commentary on its past and insight for the future are presented in Formed & Fired: Contemporary American Ceramics at the Anderson Collection at Stanford Univer…

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A new start for art at Stanford: Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection reopen

A new start for art at Stanford: Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection reopen Sheryl Nonnenberg 7-8 minutes After more than a year of closure, Stanford University’s major art museums — Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection at Stanford — are open again. A visit to campus reveals that, while some things have remained the same (the venerable Rodin sculpture collection, for example), there have been some significant c…

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New acquisition by David Park on view at the Anderson Collection

New acquisition by David Park on view at the Anderson Collection The museum reopens to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. ROBIN WANDER | September 15, 2021 Late last year, the Anderson Collection at Stanford University received a gift from two individuals, one who has been giving the gift of time to the museum for years and the other an alumnus. Keith Jantzen and his husband, Scott Beth, ’82, donated Untitled (Portrait of Tom Jef…

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Contemplations on modern art

Lately, I have been feeling like a Sally Rooney character: a little lost, a little gloomy, a little unsure about the decisions I have been making. So, I went to the Anderson Collection on a Saturday morning by myself, because museums have a calming effect on me. I needed to find my center again. As I entered the Anderson Collection, I climbed up the stairs to reach the permanent collection. I was in the middle of a room surrounded by large canv…