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
FRIDAY, 3/20, 10-11:30 AM: “Less is More: Louisiana Style”: A Special Floral Workshop with T.J. McGrath (@t.j._mcgrath_design) 🌸🐊🎨
Hone in your floral arranging skills in @neworleansmuseumofart`s Lapis Center for the Arts at an exclusive floral workshop hosted by this year`s Art in Bloom Presented by First Horizon Bank lecture series host, T.J. McGrath.
Participants in this beginner-friendly, hands-on workshop will:
💐 Work with locally-sourced, seasonal blooms and learn how to let great materials speak for themselves
💐 Create a simple and elegant floral arrangement
💐 Gain a deeper understanding of proportion and restraint, as well as practical techniques they can recreate at home
With this year`s Art in Bloom lecture series already sold out, don`t miss your opportunity to learn from this acclaimed floral designer and educator.
📝 This workshop has very limited capacity and registration is required. Participants will need to bring their own floral clippers and their own greenery from home.
🔗 Register today at the link in our bio
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"The Virgin of Milk," a portrait of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus, was first painted in Peru by the Italian Matteo Da Leccio (1588-1628) after the artist viewed a similar composition he saw in Rome by Scipione Pulzone (1544-1598).
This particular form of Marian effigy, which Da Leccio painted multiple versions of, resonated with Indigenous converts to Christianity in the Viceroyalty of Peru. By the end of the 17th century, depictions of Mary breastfeeding her infant son became a recurrent pictorial theme of Cusco School artists in Lima.
The scale and intimacy of one such painting ("The Virgin Mary," shown here) from the Cusco School suggests that this work may have been held in a private oratory, a nun`s cell, or an estrado, a dedicated space for women found in various wealthy households in Lima during this time period.
Have you gotten a chance to visit the newly-reinstalled Arts of the Americas gallery on the second-floor? Consider making a trip this weekend to learn about this artwork and more.
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🎨: Unidentified Artist, Cusco, Peru, "The Virgin Mary," 17th century, oil on canvas, museum purchase, 74.268
📍: Second floor, Arts of the Americas galleries
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UPCOMING WORKSHOP: "The Embodied Magic of Nature Journaling: Illustrating, Observing, and Recording the World Around You" 🌿📝🍃 with Beau Romeo (@rotglowfarm)
This spring, explore the beauty and wonder of nature journaling in @neworleansmuseumofart`s Besthoff Sculpture Garden!
In this workshop series, botanical illustrator, naturalist, field botanist, and farmer Beau Romeo will help participants tune into the seasonal plant life of the sculpture garden, helping them hone skills they can apply to their own home and the natural world around them.
Each session is a unique, stand alone class, so you can attend just one or all four to build on your skills. Participants will be guided in journaling with their preferred medium through each session’s focus—Observing, Illustrating, Inquiry, and Embodiment—letting their creativity support them in this exploration.
The dates and themes for each session are:
🌸 March 22: Observing
🌻 April 12: Illustrating
🌷 May 10: Inquiry
🌼 May 17: Embodiment
🎫 Registration is $25 for NOMA members and $30 for General Admission (materials not included). Advance registration is required to receive relevant prep materials.
🔗 Learn more, register for sessions, and explore supplies at the NOMA Museum Shop at the link in our bio
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Did you know there’s a connection between Roberto Lugo’s (@robertolugowithoutwax’s) “‘Stunting’ Garniture Set’” (2020) in @neworleansmuseumofart’s permanent collection and the current exhibition “Sèvres Magnifique: French Porcelain from the Collection of Thomas B. Lemann?” 🤔💭✨
In Lugo’s Artist Statement for “‘Stunting,’” he describes how “[the works reference] influential members of the Black New Orleans community in American society, highlighting the visual connection between hip-hop ‘bling’ and Sèvres porcelain in NOMA’s collection.”
By highlighting Louis Armstrong, No Limits Records, and Lil Wayne through meticulously-crafted porcelain vases and sculpture, “‘Stunting’” brings Black New Orleanians’ contributions to global arts and culture to the forefront through artistic references to French porcelain designed to signify wealth, power, and opulence in 18th-century France.
Learn more about “Stunting” (2020) at two events happening at NOMA today:
➡️ Gallery Talk with Creative Assembly alum Kr3wcial (@ikr3wcial): 12:30 pm, second floor decorative arts galleries
➡️ Lecture with artist Roberto Lugo: 6:00 pm, NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts
📝 And remember: both programs are free with museum admission, which is free every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All Initiative
Learn more and register for Lugo’s evening lecture at NOMA.org/events
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This week kicked off with German artist Anselm Kiefer`s 81st birthday 🎨🎂🖼️
Born in the waning months of World War II, Kiefer`s upbringing in West Germany inspires his artistic explorations of themes including guilt, memory, national identity, collective denial, and abuse of power.
Alongside his explorations of major historical and political themes, the artist`s paintings and sculptures are often imbued with mythological, religious, intellectual, and personal elements, as well. Given this, Kiefer`s works often feel just as pertinent as they do grand, and just as personal as they do political.
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🎨: Anselm Kiefer, "Ptolemaïs" (2019), cast bronze with white patina and metal, 76 3/4 x 49 3/16 x 19 3/16 in (194.95 x 124.94 x 48.74 cm), 2022.43
📍: Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
📸: @matlangeles
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March 2026 Kids & Families Programs at @neworleansmuseumofart 🗓️🏛️✅️
We hope you`ll join us for this month`s great events for kids & families at the museum! Mark your calendars for the following dates:
🧑🎨 Saturday, 3/14: Studio KIDS! Marvelous Metal, the next installment in our monthly youth art-making workshop series. Artists ages 6-12 will explore works on view that utilize different kinds of metal, gaining inspiration to create their own low relief foil artworks with a teaching artist.
🐰 Saturday, 3/28 : NOMA Egg Hunt and Family Festival Presented by Hancock Whitney, an annual celebration in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden featuring arts, crafts, games, face painting, food, drinks, sweets, music, and much more!
🔗 Learn more and sign up for these upcoming events at the link in our bio
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📸: @wayanbarre
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We’re making continual changes to bring all of our engaging digital offerings to the forefront of our website. We invite you to keep coming back for new content and exciting updates!
Discover artworks, collections, and stories in a digital format from NOMA like never before.
