The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston , located in the Houston Museum District, Houston, is one of the largest museums in the United States. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 6,000 years of history with approximately 64,000 works from six continents.The museum benefits the Houston community through programs, publications and media presentations. Each year, 1.25 million people benefit from museum's programs, workshops and resource centers. Of that total, more than 500,000 people participate in the community outreach programs.
The Menil Collection, located in Neartown Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the private art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs and rare books.While the bulk of the collection is made up of a once-private collection, Menil Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, public charity corporation formed under Section 5013 of the Internal Revenue Code. Additionally the Menil receives public funds granted by the City of Houston, the State of Texas, and the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts.The museum's holdings are diverse, including early to mid-twentieth century works of Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, among others. The museum also maintains an extensive collection of pop art and contemporary art from Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, Vija Celmins and Cy Twombly, Jr., among others. Also included in the museum's permanent collection are antiquities and works of Byzantine, Medieval and tribal art.
Sarah Campbell Blaffer was an American philanthropist and contributor to the art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She inherited two fortunes based on oil money, one from her father's investments in Texaco, and the other from her husband's investments in Humble Oil.
