The Meadows Museum, nicknamed “Prado on the Prairie”, is an art museum in Dallas, Texas on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Operating as a division of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, the museum houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain, with works dating from the 10th to the 21st century.
History
During business trips to Spain in the 1950s, Texas philanthropist and oil financier Algur H. Meadows spent many hours at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. Prado’s spectacular collection of Spanish masterpieces inspired Meadows to begin his collection of Spanish art. In 1962, through The Meadows Foundation, he gave Southern Methodist University funds for the construction and endowment of a museum to house his Spanish collection. The Meadows Museum opened in 1965 as part of the new Owen Arts Center at SMU.
In the years that followed, Algur Meadows provided the impetus and funds for an aggressive, but highly selective, acquisitions program through which an extraordinary collection was developed in a remarkably short time. Since he died in 1978, The Meadows Foundation of Dallas and numerous donors have provided ongoing support for the continued development of the museum’s permanent collection, nearly doubling its collection of paintings.
Collection
The Algur H. Meadows
The core of the Meadows Museum’s collection was assembled by its founder, Algur H. Meadows. Mr. Meadows developed an interest in art throughout several visits to Spain in the 1950s when he spent long afternoons at the great Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. Mr. Meadowsm subsequently began to collect Spanish art and in 1962, after the passing of his wife, Virginia, he donated his original acquisitions as well as funds for a museum to house them at Southern Methodist University.
The Meadows Museum
Through the acquisition of works by artists such as Juan Carreño de Miranda, Vicente López, Sorolla, Zuloaga, Francisco Bayeu, Raimundo de Madrazo, and Goya, the Meadows Museum has further expanded its founding collection. Bed Bug Exterminator Dallas
The Elizabeth Meadows Sculpture
This collection, known originally as the Elizabeth Meadows Sculpture Garden was a second generous gift to SMU from Mr. Meadows to honor his second wife. Many of these sculptures by renowned twentieth-century artists such as Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, and Claes Oldenburg can be seen on the Museum’s outdoor plaza.
The University Art
The collection was begun in 1920 and its early years included primarily Texas Regionalist art by important artists such as Jerry Bywaters, Everett Spruce, and William Lester. The collection now contains a wide array of works of art donated by alumni and friends of SMU.
Address: 5900 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, TX
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