My Nonprofit Reviews

I love this museum. I'm lucky enough to live not too far away and visit the Menil regularly. I can stop in and see one favorite painting or an exhibit, sometimes I'll spend 10 minutes sometimes an hour. I use the museum, and it's green spaces as a sanctuary- a place to sit on a bench and watch the dog walkers and families and take refuge from a busy day or go inside and delight in a particular artwork. The scale is human, it's not an "art mall". It's as if I've been invited into someone's house to enjoy what they enjoy. The host has just disappeared but will be right back so "take a look around and make yourself comfortable." It's so wonderful to have an institution that is strong and quiet to balance out the noise of the everyday. I love that admission is free keeping it accessible to all (which is becoming harder to find.)

It's just in the last two years that I became a member. ( I honestly didn't think that membership could offer me anything more than what I was already getting -an incorrect assumption). The Friday noon talks are super. I love hearing the stories behind the artists, the act of acquiring work, the friendships between artists and the interactions between patrons, the public, curators, and seeing work from their perspectives.

As a teenager, I remember my dad expressing how lucky that Houston was the recipient of the private collection and not Paris, which I guess could have happened. I'm still in awe that a family could have such a vision for a private collection and create such a gift for our ever-growing city.