The Clyfford Still Museum, located in Denver, Colorado, is a cultural institution dedicated to the life and work of Clyfford Still, one of the 20th century’s most influential painters. The museum was designed by Allied Works Architecture, led by Brad Cloepfil.

The museum is a two-story, 28,500-square-foot building. It was specifically designed to display Clyfford Still’s work. The structure of the building is visible through a grove of trees in a landscaped forecourt, providing a place of contemplation and transition from the museum’s surrounding urban context.

The building consists of cast-in-place architectural concrete walls with a variety of surface relief and texture. The façade features thin, vertical lines of concrete that project from the building’s surface in a fractured, organic, and random pattern. This creates a rich surface that changes in the intense Denver sunlight and forms varied shadows across the building.

The museum’s second level features nine light-filled galleries, totaling approximately 10,000 square feet. Each gallery is distinctly defined and proportioned to respond to specific aspects and needs of the collection. The galleries help trace the different phases of Still’s career in chronological sequence.

Two outdoor terraces and an education gallery offer visitors a moment of reflection and investigation during the gallery sequence. They also allow visitors to re-orient themselves with the surrounding and distant landscape. Moving between galleries, visitors are provided glimpses down into the collection storage and interpretive galleries on the first level.

The museum was completed and opened to the public on November 18, 2011. It houses 94 percent of Still’s total creative output, spanning nearly six decades of work.

Clyfford Still Museum

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