Harwood Museum of Art

The Harwood Museum of Art is Taos's major art museum, occupying a historic adobe compound in the heart of the old town that has served as an arts center for a century. A branch of the University of New Mexico since 1936, the museum holds the most comprehensive collection of Taos art anywhere, with particular depth in the work of the Taos Society of Artists, the founding generation of painters who established northern New Mexico as one of America's most celebrated artist colonies in the early 20th century. The collection spans work by all of the founding Taos Society members alongside subsequent generations of artists who have made Taos their creative home.

The museum's most celebrated holding is a gallery dedicated to the work of Agnes Martin, the abstract painter who lived and worked near Taos for much of the last thirty years of her life. Martin's large, meditative canvases of subtle horizontal lines and washes of color are among the most significant works of late 20th century American art, and the Harwood's collection, assembled through the artist's direct involvement before her death in 2004, represents an extraordinary resource for experiencing work that is difficult to encounter in most museum contexts. The Agnes Martin Gallery is considered one of the finest single-artist galleries in any American regional museum.

Beyond the permanent collection, the Harwood presents an active program of temporary exhibitions showcasing contemporary artists with connections to Taos and the broader northern New Mexico region. The museum's location in the historic Harwood Foundation building, with its central courtyard and traditional adobe architecture, makes a visit an experience of the town's built environment as well as its art. Programming includes artist talks, film screenings, and community events that maintain the museum's role as a living center of Taos's cultural life rather than simply a repository of its artistic past. Admission is affordable and free for UNM students and faculty.