Weisman Art Museum Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Weisman Art Museum
The museum's shiny metal side, seen from the Washington Avenue Bridge.
Established	1934 (1934)
Location	333 East River Road Minneapolis, MN 55455
Type	Art museum
Collection size	20,000+
Architect	Frank Gehry / MSR Design, Minneapolis / Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Minneapolis

The Weisman Art Museum is a famous art museum located at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is known for its amazing building, which looks like it's made of shiny, crumpled metal.

The museum first opened in 1934. Back then, it was called the University Gallery and was located inside the university's Northrop Auditorium. In 1993, it moved into its current, eye-catching building. The new building was designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry.

The museum was renamed to honor Frederick R. Weisman, who loved art and helped support the museum. Inside, you can find over 20,000 works of art. The collection includes modern American art by artists like Marsden Hartley and Alfred Maurer, as well as traditional Korean furniture.

The Man Behind the Name: Frederick R. Weisman
A Landmark Building
- A Building with Two Faces
Gallery
See also

The Man Behind the Name: Frederick R. Weisman

Frederick Rand Weisman was born in Minneapolis in 1912. He later moved to Los Angeles and became a famous art collector. He believed that art should be a part of everyday life.

In 1982, Weisman bought a large house in Los Angeles. He filled it with his personal collection of 20th-century art. Instead of a formal museum, he wanted to show people what it was like to live with art. Today, this house is home to the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and is open for tours.

There is another museum named after him at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, called the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

A Landmark Building

The museum's building is one of the most famous landmarks on the University of Minnesota campus. It sits on a cliff overlooking the Mississippi River.

A Building with Two Faces

One of the coolest things about the museum is that it looks completely different depending on where you stand.

From the south and east, it has a brick exterior. This helps it blend in with the older, historic buildings on campus.
From the north and west, it's a wild creation of curved and angled steel sheets. This side is meant to look like an abstract version of a fish and a waterfall.

This amazing design was created by architect Frank Gehry. What makes it even more special is that it was designed before architects regularly used computer aided design (CAD) software.

In 2011, the museum added a new section, which was also designed by Frank Gehry.