El Paso Museum of Art

The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) is an accredited art museum in downtown El Paso, Texas, founded in 1959. It is the only accredited art museum within a 250-mile radius, serving approximately 100,000 visitors annually. The museum holds particular significance for the binational region of West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, offering not only permanent collections and special exhibitions but also extensive educational programming including art classes, film series, lectures, concerts, and storytelling sessions. Its 1998 building anchors a cultural institution that bridges regional identity with international artistic heritage.

The museum was established in 1959 and achieved its first accreditation in 1972, a milestone that distinguished it as a professionally recognized institution in a vast geographic area. The original facility was replaced by a new building completed in 1998, which allowed for expanded operations and programming. Throughout its history, the museum has maintained a commitment to serving the diverse communities of West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, reflecting the deep cross-cultural connections of the border region.

The museum's holdings are organized into five distinct collections that balance regional focus with international scope. The European art collection spans the 13th to 18th centuries, anchored by the Samuel H. Kress collection of Italian, Spanish, and Flemish paintings and sculptures. The Mexican art collection encompasses paintings, ceramics, and devotional objects from the Spanish colonial period. The works on paper collection contains over 2,500 drawings, watercolors, prints, and photographs from the 17th through 20th centuries by European and American artists. The contemporary art collection features 20th- and 21st-century artists from the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The American art collection concentrates on 19th- and 20th-century painters, particularly from the Southwest, with strengths in Impressionism, early American portraiture, and early avant-garde movements.

The 57-piece Samuel H. Kress collection constitutes the museum's most celebrated holding, featuring works by Bernardo Bellotto, Benedetto Bonfigli, Canaletto, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Vincenzo Catena, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Carlo Crivelli, Vittore Crivelli, Macrino d'Alba, Jacopo da Sellaio, Nicolò da Voltri, Juan de Borgoña, Martino di Bartolomeo, Giovanni di Paolo, Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, Sano di Pietro, Battista Dossi, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, Juan de Valdés Leal, Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo), Filippino Lippi, Lorenzo Lotto, Alessandro Magnasco, the Master of the Bambino Vispo, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Giacomo Pacchiarotti, Andrea Previtali, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Pietro Rotari, Bernardo Strozzi, Anthony van Dyck, and Francisco Zurbarán. The American collection includes works by Manuel Gregorio Acosta, Frank Duveneck, Childe Hassam, George Inness, Manuel Neri, Rembrandt Peale, Frederic Remington, and Gilbert Stuart. The contemporary Southwestern and Mexican art collection features Ho Baron, Julie Bozzi, Carlos Callejo, Susan Davidoff, James Drake, Gaspar Enríquez, Vernon Fisher, Carmen Lomas Garza, Harry Geffert, Sam Gilliam, Gronk, Becky Hendrick, Anna Jaquez, Luis Jiménez, Donald Judd, Ida Lansky, Jim Love, Gilbert Lujan, James Magee, Melissa Miller, Jesús Moroles, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Kermit Oliver, Ray Parish, Nadezda Prvulovic, Linda Ridgway, María Sada, Fritz Scholder, James Surls, Willie Varela, and Shane Wiggs. The works on paper collection includes pieces by Jusepe de Ribera, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, William Merritt Chase, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Pablo Picasso.

The museum occupies a building completed in 1998, located in downtown El Paso. This facility replaced earlier premises and supports the museum's expanded mission as the only accredited art museum within a 250-mile radius. The downtown location positions the institution at the cultural heart of a metropolitan area that extends across the United States-Mexico border.

The El Paso Museum of Art is located in downtown El Paso, Texas, with its official website at http://www.elpasoartmuseum.org. As a public institution, it serves approximately 100,000 visitors per year from West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The museum's programming includes art classes, film series, lectures, concerts, storytelling sessions, and other educational activities designed for this binational community. Admission policies and specific hours are available through the museum's official channels.