Housing Great Collections & Outstanding Education Programs

Prior to becoming a collecting museum in 1996, MAM's predecessor, the Center for Fine Arts, was strictly an exhibiting organization, presenting exhibitions from the entire breadth of art history. It had no collection of its own. As part of an institution-wide reorganization, the new MAM dedicated itself to collecting and exhibiting international art of the 20th and 21st centuries with a special emphasis on art of the Americas. Its collection has grown rapidly and now numbers more than 800 works of art in all mediums. The new Pérez Art Museum Miami at Museum Park will provide vastly expanded exhibition space to present these growing collections.

Miami-Dade is the only major metropolitan area in the United States that does not have a major art museum serving the full spectrum of its community. Therefore, MAM began building a new facility commensurate with Miami's position as a hemispheric hub and creative capital.  The museum embraces its role as a cultural anchor and touchstone in a city that welcomes diverse ethnic and age groups, lifestyles and ideas.

In January 2011, MAM began construction on a building with generous spaces to showcase its art holdings and a state-of-the-art educational complex that will be a resource for the entire community.  In December 2011, Jorge M. Pérez, longtime board member and leading collector of Latin American art, made a landmark 35 million gift in cash and art to MAM. The institution will open in its new home in 2013 as Pérez Art Museum Miami.

In October 2012, the Museum announced that it commissioned works from four international artists for the Museum’s December 2013 reopening. The installations will be on view in the new Museum’s expanded exhibition space, and the Museum will look to acquire them for its permanent collection. 

In February 2013, Debra and Dennis Scholl, longtime collectors and supporters of the arts in Miami, donated nearly 300 works of art to the Museum’s permanent collection. The works range in medium and are by artists of international, national and regional significance including Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Walead Beshty, Ólafur Elíasson, Liam Gillick, and Catherine Opie, among others. The Scholl’s gift comes as the Museum prepares to move to its new and expanded facility designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron.

This project is supported by the Building Better Communities Bond Program and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County.