Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

What a fabulous art museum!! The grounds and buildings are worth the trip alone. Take one of the docent tours if possible. We did the Architectural Tour. Plan a whole day if possible. The Cafe and Restaurant were great and a beautiful setting. Don’t miss the outdoor art walks and you can go on to the square in Bentonville, a short walk.

Free. Shut up! It was a great time, kept me engaged and left me feeling inspired! The Constitution was on display and pretty amazing to see up close. They have a delicious cafe and coffee bar. I had the fried catfish sandwhich with a breakfast in bed latte….both were excellent!

We visited to bike the various trails around the museum. Most trails are very easy and paved and they all have many attractions to see along the way. I recommend the Art Trail, North Forrest, and the Orchard trail, but they are all beautiful. Plan for lots of stops and photo opportunities.

TLDR: Beautiful museum, beautiful art, not toddler/preschooler friendly

We went out of our way on our cross country trip to visit crystal bridges since my son wants to be an artist when he grows up, and we love Frank Lloyd Wright, and were excited to get to take our kids to see one of his houses. We were walking around enjoying the first exhibit when my almost three-year-old daughter was getting understandably antsy, so I tried to put her up in our ergo carrier on my back so that she could still see the art over my shoulder and hear me talk about it. I was then notified by a security guard/ docent that I was not allowed to carry her on my back. I should have checked the rules before I came in, but I had never heard of any one having that rule before so I didn't even think to check.

I am now finding out this is fairly common for museums to not allow backpack carriers for "protection of the art", but I would strongly urge them to reconsider. They said it was for the protection of the art, but I am much better able to control my child and help them have an interest in and respect for what I'm viewing if they are on my back and able to see what I am seeing. If I'm trying to carry them and shift them around, or allowing them to walk where they can get antsy and run, or if I'm trying to push them in a stroller and I'm in a museum with several sets of stairs, such as this one, the safest thing to do for the art is to carry her on my back. She was too heavy to wear on the front so that wasn't an option either.

They were so vigilant to make sure that I didn't carry my child on my back so that she could view the beautiful pieces from the vantage point they were meant to be seen, and then when we went outside and there were statues that said "do not touch. Do not sit." People were climbing and sitting on the flower statue and the docents didn't say anything as they walked by. It was very frustrating to see the double standard and it really made it where we could not enjoy the rest of the inside of the museum.

I have extremely well behaved kids and they were doing great, but we use certain tools to help them be well-behaved for their age and be able to enjoy exposure to culturally significant experiences, and not having the backpack carrier as a tool to help them see things the way they were meant to be seen, was a huge disappointment for me. It honestly really degraded the visit for us and really limited what we were able to enjoy, which is extremely disappointing for a free museum especially. My son was loving getting to see the pieces on display and I was enjoying getting to explain them to him and help him see all the angles, but we unfortunately were only able to view about a quarter of the museum due to my daughter getting antsy and uncomfortable being held, so we enjoyed the outdoor portion and left.

Really beautiful building to view, wonderful exhibits (We the People was brilliant), amazing that it is free, disappointing in the level of family friendliness and double standard of applying the rules.

I absolutely loved this museum. It’s nestled in nature and provides a tranquility vibe to take in the art. The art feels like it has been curated by someone of this era and has relevance and complexity to it that challenges perspectives. The We The People and Dusty South exhibits were amazing. Don’t forget to end your visit in reflection at the coffee and wine bar over looking the water.

Amazing FREE art museum with a top notch collection of significant American art (including immigrants). Plus the buildings are a work of art in themselves. And the art trails are fun too. My favorite was the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrored Room, which is only 1 of 2 permanently in the US. Spend all day here. The tour guides were very friendly. And the food in Eleven restaurant was tasty.

Excellent & worth the 2-hour drive!!! Free: parking, galleries, walking trails, Frank Lloyd Wright home tour. We paid for one thing- the special exhibit, The Dirty South, which was beautiful, powerful, enlightening. Would go again if I get back here.

Loved the museum and atmosphere. The grounds were a nice walk. Would really like it if there was a map telling where the art instillations are outside. Looked around for 2 but never found them on the trails they are marked to be on.

I was pretty impressed with this amazing museum. They have a very diverse collection and top of the world rotating exhibitions. The nature surrounding the area creates a wonderful atmosphere hardly ever felt or accomplished in another museum. The kids studio area is perfect for kiddos to create art freely. This is place is a “must see” when visiting Arkansas. I can’t wait to go back!

We're big museum people. We just moved here 2 weeks ago and new we really wanted to visit Crystal Bridges. It did not disappoint! The exhibits are wonderful and it has a fantastic collection. The atmosphere is also unique. We've been to a lot of different museums, all over the US, and this one definitely stands out. And it's free, which is genuinely kind of shocking. For what they offer, I would expect to pay a price. This is a must see.