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Adobe Gallery
This gallery includes pieces by the 'Five Matriarchs' of the pueblo pottery renaissance: Maria Martinez, Margaret Tofoya, Maria Nampeyo, Lucy Lewis and Helen Cordero, among many other famed Indian artisans.
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Allan Houser Art Park
The outdoor Allan Houser Art Park at the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum features massive sculptures by this patriarch of Native American contemporary art, and the five-star gift shop features work by alumni, plus plenty of Native kitsch.
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Altermann Galleries
This is the classic venue for legendary Southwestern fine art - cowboys, Indians and landscapes from (art) household names like Fredric Remington, Kim Wiggins and Charlie Russell.
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Bataan Memorial Military Museum & Library
A labor of both love and war, the Bataan Memorial Military Museum & Library exhibits an unusual collection of military mementoes. It began in 1947 as a display in the state capitol honoring the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan.' Today the museum occupies the former home base of the NM 200th Coast Artillery, captured when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1942, and the very last unit to surrender.
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Center for Contemporary Arts
CCA screens independent and artsy films and hosts annual African, gay and lesbian, and Native American film festivals. Weekends often bring art openings and live performances.
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Cross of the Martyrs
More a quick climb than a religious shrine, the Cross of the Martyrs was erected to commemorate the 21 Franciscan friars who lost their lives in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Historic plaques explain 400 years of Santa Fe history, and the view from the top really makes you appreciate those adobe-only laws.
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Economos/Hampton Galleries
This is where museums come to purchase fantastic examples of retablos, ancient Native American art, pre-Columbian Mexican pieces and much, much more, all crammed onto two huge floors aswirl with history.
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El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe
In a huge warehouse at the developing Santa Fe Railyard site, the kid-friendly El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe is an all-in-one museum, gallery, performance space and community arts center designed for local Hispanic youth. With exhibits by internationally known artists and others still in grade school, plus all manner of displays geared toward home-schooled kids, this is a great place to introduce your own children to la cultura Nuevomexicana. The huge warehouse space hosts art openings, live music and theater. The Santa Fe Farmers Market is also ensconced here in the winter.
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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Possessing the largest collection of the master painter's work in the world, this museum is the most visited art attraction in Santa Fe. Seeing these paintings in person will move even the most casual O'Keeffe fans. Her thick brushwork and luminous colours don't always come through on the peeling posters you've kept since college; relish them here firsthand.
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Historic Line Camp Gallery & Huichol Indian Museum
About 15 miles north of Santa Fe, the one-of-a-kind Historic Line Camp Gallery & Huichol Indian Museum is a gift shop and museum that claims the largest collection of Huichol Indian art in North America: Nearika, unbroken strands of colorful yarn coiled into tales of life and death, and chaquira, sculptures of animals covered in tiny, obsessively patterned beads, are said to depict the understandably wild dreams of the 'People of Peyote.'
Read more about Historic Line Camp Gallery & Huichol Indian Museum
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Historic Santa Fe Foundation
On the site of El Zagúan, an expansive territorial-style mansion purchased in 1849 by Anglo entrepreneur James Johnson, the Historic Santa Fe Foundation is an unassuming little museum on Canyon Rd, with a few interesting exhibits - old photos, potsherds and whatnot. The lovely gardens outside are also worth a look. Create your own walking or driving tour of Santa Fe's historic best by consulting the foundation's registry (available on-site and on the website) of more than 70 Santa Fe buildings considered worthy of historical preservation. Each is marked by a bronze plaque.
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Indian Arts Research Center
Make reservations to tour the vaulted collection at the Indian Arts Research Center. The collection consists of more than 11,000 Native American artifacts, much of it pre-colonial, including textiles, baskets, jewelry and lots of pottery. It's not really displayed for public consumption, which makes the tour through the climate-controlled collection that much more interesting; you'll be surrounded by shelves packed with remnants of a time long past. The gift shop ( -noon & - ) has an outstanding selection of collection-related books by associates, faculty members and others.
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Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Primarily showing student and faculty work, the esteemed IAIA museum features the finest offerings of Native American artists from around the country. It houses over 7000 works; its contemporary Native art reflecting its diverse cross-cultural influences.
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J Mark Sublette: Medicine Man Gallery
It shows quality antique retablos, Navajo blankets, around US$5000 kachinas and more Maria Martinez pottery than her San Ildefonso museum. You'll also find artwork by seminal Western landscape artist Maynard Dixon.
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Loretto Chapel
The small Gothic Loretto Chapel , modeled after Sainte Chapelle in Paris, was also commissioned by Archbishop Lamy. But when architect Projectus Mouly (hired after his father, the original architect, went blind) began 'courting' the archbishop's niece-in-law, well, the chapel was left without an architect. And a staircase. And so the Sisters of Loretto prayed to St Joseph, patron of carpenters, for divine intercession, or at least something to replace the darned ladder. Sure enough, a mysterious man with a burro, T-square and hammer appeared, asking for two tubs of water and perfect solitude. The sisters complied, and using neither nails nor any obvious support structure, the white-haired stranger completed the famously graceful spiral staircase. Then he disappeared. Of course. Today St Joseph's Miraculous Staircase is popular among tourists and wedding photographers, but regular services are no longer held here. The adjacent gift shop is packed with Catholic kitsch.
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Museum of Fine Arts
Brush up on your knowledge of New Mexico's manifold artists and art movements at the country's oldest contemporary arts museum, the Museum of Fine Arts . The 1917 building is itself among the finest examples of Pueblo Revival architecture anywhere and served as a starting point from which architects like John Gaw Meem would go on to transform the city in 'Santa Fe style.' With more than 20,000 pieces - including collections of the Taos Society of Artists , Santa Fe Society of Artists, Los Cincos Pintores and other legendary collectives - it's a veritable who's who of the geniuses who put this dusty town on a par with Paris and New York. Docents, who give tours (; ), are far less likely to roll their eyes than gallery owners while you're learning to appreciate the state's finest offerings from the likes of Georgia O'Keefe, Elias Rivera and Ansel Adams.
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Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Impressive displays, almost installation-art pieces, were designed by Diné (Navajo), Hopi, Apache and Pueblo tribal members for the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture . Exhibits draw you through 10,000 years of Indian history, from efficient hide tents perfect for the nomadic lifestyle and adobe apartment complexes that grew along with regional agriculture to modern, HUD-approved hogans with pre-fab kitchens stocking Navajo tacos and government-issued 'Wheat Square Cereal.' The juxtaposition of centuries is jarring. Your introduction to Native America comprises incredible art, from the ancient and antique to 1960s psychedelic, including musical instruments, jewelry, weavings, pottery and more.
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Museum of International Folk Art
Prepare to have your mind jarred out of submission: no craft is too colorful, no medium too wacky, no object too insane to join this wonderful collection at the Museum of International Folk Art begun by Florence Dibell Bartlett in 1953. More than 135,000 objects now pack the place, arranged without regard for time or place but rather by the spirit of the piece. It's all quite refreshing. The beadwork of Victorian England is alongside that of West Africa; castles of Mexican tin preside over townships of Chinese ceramic; rooms and rooms of outrageous crafts and toys in the Girard Wing hail from more than 100 countries. Kids go crazy (or catatonic) at the sight.
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Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
This collection, set in one of John Gaw Meem's finest buildings, traces the history of Spanish New Mexico. Straw appliqué, jewellery and other treasures as well as contemporary crafts like ramilletes (colourful paper garlands) by local artist Estrellita Carillo-Garcia are on display.
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Nedra Matteucci Galleries
The Taos Society is on display at this top gallery, which shows the best work of Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein and the rest of the gang. Don't miss the beautiful gardens out back, which has monumental sculptures in stone and bronze, including work by Vietnam Women's Memorial designer Glenna Goodacre.
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Palace of the Governors
Begin your voyage into Santa Fe's rich past right here the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610 as the Casas Reales (Royal Houses) and home to more than 100 governors - 60 of them Spanish - before becoming a museum in 1909. This is where Spanish colonists waited out the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and where Governor Lew Wallace wrote part of Ben Hur .
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Portal Program
The Portal Program allows artisans with tribal enrollment to sell jewelry and art in front of the palace. It's a tradition that began in the 1880s, when Tesuque artisans began meeting the train with all manner of wares; today more than 1000 members representing almost every New Mexico tribe exhibit here at various times, alternating schedules to fill nearly 80 spaces beneath the vigas each morning.
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Pushkin Gallery
Owned by the family of poet Alexander Pushkin, this gallery shows Russian masters including Nikolai Timkov and Vasily Golubev, who are outshone by newcomer Alexy Smirnov Vókressensky; museum-quality Orthodox icons and lacquer boxes are also on display.
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Rancho de las Golondrinas
About 15 miles south of downtown Santa Fe, in the town of La Cienega, Rancho de las Golondrinas is a grassy oasis that has been a popular overnight for weary travelers for at least 10,000 years, and many of the historic structures housing this living-history museum were built by Spanish explorers who fortified the area in 1625. The 200-acre preserve has rescued dozens more original Spanish buildings from the bulldozers of progress and brought them from all over the Southwest for respectful renovation. Volunteers use centuries-old equipment to re-create colonial life, and blacksmiths, weavers and lots of cuddly livestock - including rare Churro sheep sheared annually at the Spring Festival, in early June - keep the kids entertained. Special events include Civil War reenactments in May, a popular Wine Festival in July and a Harvest Festival in October with dancing, grape crushing, an arts market and more.
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Roundhouse
Inside the Zia Indian-inspired Roundhouse is one of the best art collections in New Mexico - and it's free! There are guided tours in the summer (schedule varies) and you can always grab a flyer with a bare-bones self-guided tour at the visitors desk, then peruse hundreds of sculptures, paintings and photos by the state's best- (and least-) known artists.
