2009 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Reader Survey Winner - Second Place

best Art Museum


2009 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Reader Survey Winner - First Place

Best Sculpture Gardens

Everyone knows't least everyone ought to know'bout Stanford University Art Center's sculpture garden; the outdoor walkway includes a collection of 20 Rodins, especially the monumental Gate of Hell, capped by a small version of the original figure that became The Thinker. Here is the largest collection of work by this titanic sculptor outside of the MusÈe Rodin in Paris. The Cantor's grounds also boast a 320-foot-long sculpture by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy, a stone river called, appropriately, Stone River, made of sandstone debris from the earthquakes that rocked the university twice in the last century. And near Roble Hall is a Papua New Guinea sculpture garden, featuring fantastic standing figures some 40 of them carved on-site by 10 artists from the Sepik River region. (RvB)


2008 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Reader Survey Winner - Third Place

Best Place to Look at Art

The imposing facade—columns and all—of the art museum on the Stanford campus houses an impressive permanent collection of Native American, ancient, 19th-century and modern art, plus a significant sampling of Rodin sculptures. The museum also hosts major traveling shows of individual artists (Richard Diebenkorn, H.C. Westermann) and intriguing group exhibits (Spanish art of the New World, the garden in art). best of all, the museum (open Wednesday–Sunday) is free to all.

-- Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper, September 24, 2008



The Cantor Arts Center's diverse collections span continents, cultures, and 4,000 years of art history and include the largest gathering of Rodin bronzes outside Paris. Come see a wide range of changing exhibitions and take advantage of docent tours, lectures, gallery talks, symposia, classes, and special events. 

Admission is free.