Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Reopens

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), the oldest and largest cultural institution of its kind in the state, reopened on April 22, 2023, following a historic renovation that has dramatically transformed the museum’s main building and grounds in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park.

Designed by world-renowned architect Jeanne Gang, the project includes an innovative 133,000-square-foot redesign integrating sustainable building features with panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. With flexible programming spaces, indoor/outdoor areas to socialize, and the pathways between the expanded galleries, art school, theater, and modern restaurant unified by a central light-filled atrium, AMFA is a 21st century museum with a mission to inspire and build community.

The reopened AMFA features a fresh look at the permanent collection — with rare paintings by Rivera and Elaine de Kooning — an exhibition of Chakaia Booker’s prints, and animated video Tears of Chiwen by Sun Xun, as well as site-specific commissions by Anne Lindberg and Natasha Bowdoin. Comprised of new acquisitions and loans by artists such as LaToya Hobbs, Oliver Lee Jackson, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Ryan RedCorn, and Elias Sime, the banner inaugural exhibition, Together, is a celebration of art that explores our connectedness to each other and the natural world.