Milwaukee Art Museum

I recently visited the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA which is noted for its great architecture and its sensational collection of modern art.

The museum building was built by the world renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Its exterior was an engineering feet with steel wings that fold and unfold frequently. Calatrava's style of architecture is takes form like a sculpture with soft curves and beams; a stark contrast to the brutalist architecture I looked at previously.

The building is not the only interesting part of the museum. It features a wide variety of art and design pieces, more info can be found on their website here.

Whilst I was visiting there was an exhibit about optical illusions and colour, I took a few photos of pieces that I found particularly interesting.

The above photo is of a piece called 'Walk-In Infinity Chamber' by Stanley Landsman. Its title is descriptive of what it is. With padding on my feet I walked into a cube shaped chamber made of glass. The glass contained small lights which were reflected infinitely. The piece was recently refurbished and is one of the most popular exhibits in Milwaukee Art Museum.

I found the Milwaukee Art Museum to be symbolic of the American Mid-West. It is an example of where contemporary meets the traditional, but it also has an essence of liberalism which isn't evident everywhere in the U.S. It is difficult to be critical of somewhere which conveys so much. The museum probably does not compete to the levels of the Tate Modern or MoMA, but it does spark interest and is very insightful with a wide variety of pieces.