Bentonville Art

This post will highlight the art in Bentonville. Alice Walton is the only daughter of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. With an estimated net worth of over $100 billion, she is the richest woman in the world. She has always had a passion for the arts, but as a child, needed to travel to places like Tulsa Oklahoma to visit museums. This particular piece of art is on the grounds of the incredible Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art which she created.

Walking the half mile from our hotel to the museum, I passed numerous outdoor sculptures such as this horse. Most of the outdoor art has an environmental or nature theme to it.

I find this sculpture a bit less welcoming than the horse.

This morning, on our bike ride, we passed by this sculpture.

The Crystal Bridges Museum itself is a beautiful piece of art created by the architect Moshe Safdie. This suspension bridge over the water is the museum restaurant. The water bubbles up from the Crystal Spring near the south entrance to the museum.

One of the famous art pieces at the museum is the original 1943 Norman Rockwell painting of Rosie the Riveter. An interesting bit of trivia about this painting: Rosie’s pose is identical to that of the Prophet Isaiah in the Sistine Chapel.

This Georgia O’Keeffe painting, Jimson Weed / White Flower No. 1, spent a number of years in the White House at the request of Laura Bush.

This 1797 Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington belonged to Alexander Hamilton.

As we were taking a tour of the museum, we walked past this sculpture. I was struck by it, so I took a quick photo. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the information plate, so I cannot share any more information about it.

These few photographs provide only the slightest taste of the art both in the Crystal Bridges Museum (free admission) and public art throughout Bentonville. If you are interested in American Art, Alice Walton has made Bentonville someplace you will likely want to visit.