Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

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The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to the celebration and analysis of the strongest aspects of mid- century modernism as reflected in the holdings of the Bechtler collection.

05/31/2026

🛞 Pump the brakes: “Chakaia Booker: Weighted Balance” closes Monday, June 1.

More than four decades of artistic practice come together in powerful sculptural works made from discarded rubber tires—transformed into bold, dynamic forms that speak to resilience, reinvention, and change.

Pushing texture, movement, and material to new heights, the exhibition creates an experience you feel the moment you enter the space.

This is your last chance to see it before it closes.

⏳ Final verdict: “Hansjürg Brunner: The Trial” closes Sunday, May 31.Inspired by Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” this exhibit...
05/30/2026

⏳ Final verdict: “Hansjürg Brunner: The Trial” closes Sunday, May 31.

Inspired by Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” this exhibition features 45 linocut prints that bring the novel’s tension and unease to life. Through bold compositions, compressed spaces, and haunting figures, Brunner invites viewers into a world where power feels elusive and answers remain just out of reach.

Don’t miss your last chance to see it before the case is officially closed.

Hansjürg Brunner, “The Trial” portfolio, 1963-64, linocut on paper, 12 ½ x 8 ¼ in. © Emanuel Brunner / Switzerland. Collection of Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, 2003.0609A.1-45.

05/23/2026

Looks like rain. Sounds like the perfect excuse to spend the day at the Bechtler. ☔️✨
 
On view now:
• “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale”
• “Chakaia Booker: Weighted Balance”
• “Hansjürg Brunner: The Trial”
 
Spend Memorial Day weekend exploring current exhibitions that invite you to slow down, look closer, and explore something new. 
 
Museum Hours:
Saturday: 10 AM–5 PM
Sunday: 12 PM–5 PM
Monday: 10 AM–5 PM
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 10 AM–9 PM (Free Admission 5–9 PM)
Thursday: 10 AM–5 PM
Friday: 10 AM–5 PM

05/12/2026

👀🎭 This improv show will have you cry-laughing all night! Join us for Art of Improv with , where every line is made up completely on the spot—with inspiration from the audience and current exhibition.

Thursday, May 14
6:30 PM : Galleries Open
7:30 PM: Improv Show

🎟️ Tickets are going fast! Grab yours now:
$15 non-member | $10 member
Link in bio.

✨ Keep the night going at The Modernists After Party after the show—drinks, conversation, and community included.

05/09/2026

Love, in full color 🎨💐

Created during the COVID-19 pandemic while his mother Gloria was undergoing cancer treatment, McGee’s “Gloria Paintings” transform a moment of profound vulnerability into something radiant and alive. What he describes as “a bouquet to [my mother’s] spirit and vigor,” the series is filled with bold color, thick paint, and joyful movement.

✨ On view in “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale.”

Moms get in FREE this Mother’s Day weekend at the Bechtler 💐 (Sat, May 9 + Sun, May 10) Celebrate the mother or mother f...
05/08/2026

Moms get in FREE this Mother’s Day weekend at the Bechtler 💐 (Sat, May 9 + Sun, May 10)
 
Celebrate the mother or mother figure in your life with a day surrounded by art, creativity, and inspiration. 🗣️Just mention this post at the front desk to unlock free admission.
 
🎁 Need a last-minute gift? Stop by the Museum Store for unique finds—or give the gift of a Bechtler membership. During Members Month, all new memberships are 20% off throughout May!

📸 Ghost Crab Productions, LLC

05/06/2026

🗓️ WED, MAY 13 | 6–8:30 PM

The Bechtler is partnering with and for a drop-in ekphrastic poetry workshop—where visual art inspires the written word. Using “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” as a starting point, experience live spoken word, gallery-based prompts, and time to write, reflect, and share.

Featuring performances by:
✨
✨
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Admission is FREE from 5–9 PM—pull up anytime, stay as long as you want ✨

🔗 Link in bio to RSVP (free) + bring a friend

See you soon!

🍎👞Symbolism takes center stage throughout “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale.” Though text does not appear in t...
05/05/2026

🍎👞Symbolism takes center stage throughout “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale.” Though text does not appear in this early series, language is embedded in the paintings through metaphor and wordplay, infusing them with layered significance. Visitors are introduced to this from the very beginning.
 
Upon entry, guests are greeted by “The Wastelands,” McGee’s first mature body of work, which establishes themes that would reverberate throughout his career and sets the tone for a richly layered experience. 👀

📝Created between 1992 and 1995, the series draws from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” transforming themes of moral crisis and spiritual dislocation into bold color, symbolic forms, and expressive gestures.
 
“I wanted those paintings to have a sense of atmospheric speed. There was no top, there was no bottom, just this feeling of not having anything to hold onto. And that’s how I felt when I was young.” - David McGee
 
🗓️“David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” on view through August 23, 2026.
 
Credits:

- “Love Is Blindness” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil, enamel, and newsprint on canvas, 96 x 96 in. Dallas Museum of Art, Gift of the Professional Members League, 1995.43

- “Sperm Rush” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil on canvas, 69 13/16 x 66 ¼ in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. I. H. Kempner III and Jeanne and Michael Klein, 94.107.

- “Untitled” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil on canvas, 70 x 67 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Michael A. Caddell and Cynthia Chapman, 2005.1857

🎉 Member Appreciation Month is here! May is all about you at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. To say thank you, we’re ...
05/02/2026

🎉 Member Appreciation Month is here!
 
May is all about you at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. To say thank you, we’re celebrating with exclusive perks, special events, and limited-time offers all month long.
 
✨ Take 20% off new memberships with code May20
☕ Join us for a members-only Coffee & Conversation
🛍️ Enjoy extra savings in the Museum Store
👯 Bring friends for free during select dates
🎶 Plus, surprise perks like free jazz tickets
 
It’s also the perfect time to experience our newest exhibition, “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale”—a vibrant exploration of memory, music, and storytelling.
 
Your support makes it all possible—and we can’t wait to celebrate with you.
 
🔗 Tap the link in bio to explore more!

🎷 Happy 🎷 Today we celebrate the power of jazz as a global language of improvisation, memory, and meaning. Featured in...
04/30/2026

🎷 Happy 🎷
 
Today we celebrate the power of jazz as a global language of improvisation, memory, and meaning.
 
Featured in “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” is “Lush Life” from the “Blue Hour” series (1997). 
 
In “Lush Life,” McGee reimagines Jacques-Louis David’s “The Death of Marat” (1793) through the lens of African American cultural history, transforming the iconic pose into a layered self-portrait where image, text, and music collide. Words appear throughout the composition—tattooed, inscribed, and floating—forming a web of references to identity, authorship, and jazz history.
 
Echoes of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” resonate alongside visual metaphors: a trumpet that both “proclaims” and sings, a wine bottle whose “whine” becomes improvisational voice, and fragile balloons that hold language in suspension. A chimpanzee adds a playful, subversive edge—reminding us that meaning in McGee’s world is always multilayered.
 
🎶 Reel Sound on or click the link in our bio to hear the music McGee chose to accompany the work: Coleman Hawkins’ “Body and Soul.”
 
Image: David McGee, “Lush Life” from the “Blue Hour” series, 1997, oil on canvas. Collection of Robert J. Card, MD and Karol Kreymer.

Address

420 S Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC
28202

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+17043539209

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