Review: The Menil Collection

So what's the big picture?
Situated away from the Museum District in the hip, residential Montrose neighborhood, the Menil Collection's landmark Renzo Piano–designed main building is surrounded by sweeping lawns and bungalow-lined streets. The walkable museum campus also houses various free-standing buildings: the Cy Twombly Gallery, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, the Rothko Chapel, a restaurant, a bookstore, and the Menil Drawing Institute.

Run us through the collection.
In addition to temporary exhibitions, this free museum rotates in pieces from its permanent collection, taken from the personal collection of the late Dominique and John de Menil, Houston’s most important art patrons. The 17,000 pieces in the collection are wide-ranging, with an emphasis on sculpture, artifacts, modern and contemporary paintings, and surrealist works.

What are the galleries like?
Built to make use of the natural light that streams in from overhead, the pristine halls and galleries are a tranquil backdrop for the expertly placed art. Both the Rothko Chapel and Cy Twombly Gallery were built to showcase permanent works by those artists.

On the practical tip, how were the facilities?
All buildings have only one ground-level floor that's open to the public. There's seating in the main lobby and in certain buildings like the Rothko Chapel, which is a nondenominational meditative space.

Is there a gift shop worth mentioning?
The Menil Bookstore offers art and coffee table books aplenty, along with a few other artistic pickups.

If we're hungry, where can we eat?
Bistro Menil is a lively restaurant with a full lunch and dinner menu, wine list, afternoon tea service, and happy hour. Sit and enjoy a menu of salads, crab cakes, crispy pizzas, and seafood, or buy a bottle of wine and ask to borrow wine glasses to take to the lawn.

Any advice for the time- or attention-challenged?
You could pop your head into each of the buildings—and you should because each is distinctive—in an hour, but it would be a shame not to have longer to enjoy the collections.

What's the bottom line?
If you only had time for one destination in Houston, many locals would point you to the Menil. The setting, plopped unexpectedly in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood, is unique, as is the breadth of work spread throughout several buildings. Those with some free time could spend an entire day here, reading the newspaper under the trees on the front lawn before weaving throughout the different collections and finishing with a glass of wine in the restaurant.