Art in Texas - Outstanding collections in city and desert

Flights from London are not included. The tour begins at the Zaza Hotel – located in Houston’s ‘Museum District’ – and your room is available from 4.00pm on 25th February. The tour leaders fly from London on a British Airways flight departing Heathrow at 9.30am on this day should you wish to join them. There is an airport transfer to meet this flight.

The tour begins with a dinner in the hotel restaurant at 6.30pm. First of three nights in Houston.

The morning is spent in the Museum of Fine Arts, an outstanding collection built up over the last century. Highlights include the Impressionists and American art of the 19th and 20th centuries, but there is much variety from the Renaissance to contemporary works by minimalist Dan Flavin. It is architecturally varied too with extensions by Mies van der Rohe and Rafael Moneo. Bayou Bend houses a good collection of American decorative and fine art, with beautiful gardens around. Overnight Houston.

The Menil is one of the world’s greatest private collections of modern art. Across the road is another Piano museum dedicated to Cy Twombly’s abstract works. Also visited are the Rothko Chapel, built as a sanctuary for fourteen of the artist’s canvases, and Richmond Hall, a grocery store converted into a Dan Flavin light installation. Some free time to return to the Fine Arts Museum or walk in the neighbouring Rice University campus. Overnight Houston.

Early flight to Midland, in westernmost Texas (United Airlines), and drive south across the Chihuahuan Desert (c. 190 miles) through a landscape of scrub and shrub, fringed by distant sierras. Marfa is little more than a handful of dusty intersections and yet is laden with western charm. Thanks to Donald Judd, it also has a thriving contemporary arts scene and a sophistication out of all proportion to its size. First of two nights in Marfa.

Special visits both to Judd’s home and to the Chinati Foundation (most of the day is spent here). Judd’s decision to convert 340 acres of former US military land into an art installation stemmed from a need to escape the East Coast and a desire to display large-scale installations in a setting which linked art with landscape. Works by Judd, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin have been joined over the years by Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarson, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Some free time to visit Marfa’s excellent bookstore and main street. Overnight Marfa.

Drive through deepest desert and countryside to bordertown Del Rio and then to San Antonio (journey time: c. 10 hours with several refreshment breaks, including the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center in Langtry). Arrive San Antonio c. 6.00pm. First of two nights in San Antonio.

The McNay was the first modern art museum in Texas and alongside the excellent 19th- and 20th-century works is a substantial sculpture collection in the landscaped park plus a new wing for temporary exhibitions. Afternoon boat trip from the hotel to the San Antonio Museum of Art with excellent American and Latin American collections. Free time to visit The Alamo, of Davy Crockett fame. Overnight San Antonio.

Drive north via Austin, a major university city and the state capital. Visit the Blanton Museum of Art, with fine collections of Renaissance as well as 20th-century American art. Brief stop at the Harry Ransom Center, an incredible resource of rare books and manuscripts. Continue to Dallas (c. 195 miles), arriving early evening. First of three nights in Dallas. 

Begin with Philip Johnson’s Thanksgiving Chapel and JFK Memorial before continuing to the Arts District. The Dallas Museum of Art is one of the finest in the US. Next door is the Nasher Sculpture Center, a superb collection including works by Calder, Chillida, Serra and Hepworth. Some free time – the Asian Art Museum is a possibility. Overnight Dallas.

The day is spent in Fort Worth and its astonishingly rich ‘Cultural District’. The Kimbell Art Museum is a magnificent collection, particularly the European paintings with Titian and Tiepolo to Matisse and Mondrian. Kahn’s building is sublime: a series of barrel vaults providing lighting and acoustic perfection for the masterworks. Piano’s sympathetic extension (2013) granted much needed exhibiting space. Across the road is The Modern (designed by Tadao Ando), another  collection of 20th-century greats: Pollock, Hockney, Picasso, Bacon and a room of Sean Scully canvasses. See also the Amon Carter Museum of American art including works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, the two greatest artists of the American West. Overnight Dallas.

Morning at the Meadows Museum, a world-renowned collection of Spanish art, particularly strong on the Golden Age. Return to the hotel where the tour ends by c. 1.00pm. The tour manager accompanies a transfer to the airport, timed for the BA flight to London, currently departing 6.30pm.