Art and nature in harmony
NOMA is committed to the health and safety of our community. Please see safety guidelines below.
Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.
Open seven days a week
Summer Hours (April–September) 10 am–6 pm | Winter Hours (October–March) 10 am–5 pm
Wheelchairs may be used throughout our barrier-free property and are available upon request.
Image: Elyn Zimmerman’s Mississippi Meanders bridge is illuminated at dusk.
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden occupies approximately eleven acres in City Park adjacent to the museum. Atypical of most sculpture gardens, this garden is located within a mature existing landscape of pines, magnolias, and live oaks surrounding two lagoons. The garden design creates outdoor viewing spaces within this picturesque landscape. Originally conceived in 2003, the Sculpture Garden doubled in size in 2019 and has grown to include more than 90 sculptures. READ MORE
Sydney and Walda Besthoff are the namesake visionary founders behind a world-renowned sculpture garden for New Orleans.
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Architects, landscape architects, lighting designers, and arborists were among the contractors who made it all possible.
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See highlights of the Sculpture Garden in a virtual tour produced in partnership with the Google Arts & Culture Initiative.
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You can play a role in the historic expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden by making a gift to support the project.
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Relive the excitement of the grand opening of the Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion in May 2019.
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Bronze
Pablo Casals’s Obelisk, a towering accumulation of welded bronze cellos, dominates the waters of a lagoon in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Standing over twenty feet tall, the Obelisk, built in homage to the world-renowned Spanish-Puerto Rican cellist and human rights activist Pablo Casals, is an imposing example of monumental sculpture by French-born artist Arman.
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art offers detailed entries on 64 artworks in the original 2003 garden, as well as a bibliography and overview of the garden’s founding. 192 pages, hardcover. Edited by Miranda Lash. $49.95
@neworleansmuseumofart wishes you and yours a happy and restful holiday season ❄️🌟🏛️
The museum and Besthoff Sculpture Garden will be closed today, December 25.
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🎨: Frank Stella, "Alu Truss Star" (2016). Milled aluminum, 168 x 168 x 168 in. Gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff, Installation funded by The Lupin Foundation, 2017.229.
📍: Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
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Oh, to be in a beautiful winter scene painted by Seitei 😌❄️🛶
This panel from Watanabe Seitei`s "Twelve Months of the Year" series, which depicts different natural scenes from across the calendar year, shows crows sitting above a small boat docked on the water after snowfall.
While we don`t expect more snow this year at @neworleansmuseumofart, we can always dream 💭💫🌨️
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🎨: Watanabe Seitei, “Twelve Months of the Year (One of Twelve)” (1868-1912). Ink and color on silk, 45 1/4 x 15 15/16 in. Museum purchase, Women`s Volunteer Committee Fund. 81.8.12
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We`re (almost!) in the new year, which means it`s time for a new astrological season in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden: Capricorn ♑️🐐🌏️
The last of the three earth signs in tropical astrology, Capricorn is ruled by the planet Saturn and is traditionally represented by the sea-goat: a hybrid mythological creature with half its body in the ocean and the other half planted firmly on the ground.
With the combined emotional depth of its sister sign Cancer and the determination of its fellow earth signs, Capricorns know better than anyone that it takes time, patience, and passion to summit even the most challenging mountains.
Fellow Capricorns, we hope to see you in @neworleansmuseumofart`s Besthoff Sculpture Garden sometime this season 👋🌠
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📸: jeamrrr, @crazymajax, @ivan_b.jpg, Sesthasak Boonchai, @bumblebets, @dinojagger
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"HAYWARD OUBRE: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY" | Opening Friday, January 30th, 2026
We`re excited to share @neworleansmuseumofart`s upcoming presentation of "Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity," the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the work of American modernist, Hayward L. Oubre, Jr. (1916–2006)."
Through 52 sculptures, paintings, and prints, the exhibition reveals how the New Orleans-born artist shaped American art while working in the South, and underscores the crucial role of Black artists and art departments at HBCUs in shaping the artistic landscape of the twentieth century.
📆 Mark your calendars for 3 upcoming events to welcome this incredible exhibition to the Ella West Freeman Gallery:
👀 Member Preview (for NOMA members) | Thursday, 1/29, 5:30 - 8 pm
🏛️ Opening Day | Friday, 1/30, 10 am - 5 pm
🎉 NOMA at Night: "Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity" Opening Celebration | 6 - 9 pm
The exhibition is organized by the Birmingham Museum of Art and curated by Katelyn D. Crawford, The William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. This exhibition is presented with generous support from the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Henry Luce Foundation. Lead support for the exhibition catalogue is provided by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
The presentation in New Orleans is sponsored by Stephanie and Ryan Burks.
Exhibition program support is provided by Boh Bros. Centennial Fund.
🔗 Learn more about the exhibition and get your tickets for NOMA at Night: "Structural Integrity" at the links in our bio
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🎨: Hayward L. Oubre, Jr. (American, 1916–2006), "Equilibrium," (1969). Acrylic and acrylic resin on canvas, 30 x 24 in. Collection of Carla and Cleophus Thomas, Jr., image credit: Erin Croxton
🎨: Hayward L. Oubre, Jr. (American, 1916–2006), "Space Rhythms," (1960). Painted metal wire on wood base, 41 ⅝ x 17 ¼ x 22 in. The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
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Happy birth-week to Wassily Kandinsky 🎂🧑🎨💫
A critical figure in abstract art, Kandinsky was working as a law and economics lecturer before leaving his burgeoning career to pursue art studies in Munich at age 30. He eventually returned to the front of the classroom, teaching at the Bauhaus in the 1920s after establishing himself as a respected and deeply inventive painter.
Speaking of the artist`s studies: this study sketch of Kandinsky`s famous "Several Circles" is part of @neworleansmuseumofart`s permanent collection. The final version of "Several Circles" is housed in the Guggenheim Museum`s permanent collection.
Kandinsky`s example demonstrates that it is never too late in life (or in the year!) to forge your own path 🛣️
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🎨: Wassily Kandinsky, "Sketch for `Several Circles,`” 1926. Oil on paper, laid down on canvas, 27 5/8 x 27 5/8 in. Gift of Mrs. Edgar B. Stern, 64.31.
📍: Modern and contemporary art galleries, second floor
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TOMORROW: "Hollow Tree" Documentary Screening + Post-Viewing Panel Discussion 📽️🌳🍿
Kira Akerman`s award-winning documentary "Hollow Tree" will be screening tomorrow, December 18, at 5:30 pm in @neworleansmuseumofart`s Lapis Center for the Arts.
"Hollow Tree" follows three teenagers coming of age in their sinking homeland of Louisiana. For the first time, they notice the Mississippi River’s engineering, stumps of cypress trees, and billowing smokestacks. Their different perspectives—as Indigenous, white, and Angolan young women—shape their story of the climate crisis.
Join us for this screening and post-viewing panel with the film`s three protagonists—Mekenzie Fanguy, Annabelle Pavy, and Tanielma DaCosta—moderated by Kimbrielle Boult, NOMA’s Community Engagement Coordinator.
✅️ This program is free and open to the public. Registration is highly encouraged.
🔗 Register now at the link in our bio.
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Second slide: "Hollow Tree" film poster provided by Kira Akerman
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Discover artworks, collections, and stories in a digital format from NOMA like never before.
