Admission, Hours, and Guidelines
The health and safety of our guests, staff, and collection are our highest priorities. Here is what you can expect:
- Admission: The Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public, seven days a week.
- Hours: 10 am–6 pm
- Standard rules of conduct in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden may be found here.
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at NOMA
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden occupies approximately eleven acres in City Park adjacent to the museum. Atypical of most sculpture gardens, this garden is located within a mature existing landscape of pines, magnolias and live oaks surrounding two lagoons. The garden design creates outdoor viewing spaces within this picturesque landscape. Conceived in 2003, the Besthoff Sculpture Garden doubled in size in 2019 and has grown from its inception to include more than 90 sculptures, most of them donated to NOMA by the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Foundation.
Artists featured in the expansion include Larry Bell, Tony Cragg, Johan Creten, Katharina Fritsch, Frank Gehry, Jeppe Hein, Georg Herold, Thomas Houseago, Shirazeh Houshiary, Baltasar Lobo, Robert Longo, Gerold Miller, Beverly Pepper, Pedro Reyes, George Rickey, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Sean Scully, Yinka Shonibare, Frank Stella, Hank Willis Thomas, Bernar Venet, and Fred Wilson. Three works were commissioned for the site: a 60-foot-long mosaic wall by artist Teresita Fernández, a glass bridge by Elyn Zimmerman, and an installation by Maya Lin inside the Sculpture Pavilion.
Watch a video from the grand opening ceremony of the Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion.
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is home to more than 90 sculptures by renowned artists from around the world, set within a picturesque landscape of native Louisiana trees and plants.
Mobile Guide
NOMA offers a free mobile guide and audio tour of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, accessible through your own cell phones.
Learn More about the Garden
For more information on the sculptures and history of the original 2003 Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, please see these two fully illustrated publications, both of which are available for purchase in the NOMA Museum Shop:
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art offers detailed entries on 64 artworks in the original 2003 garden, as well as a bibliography and overview of the garden’s founding. 192 pages, hardcover. Edited by Miranda Lash. $49.95
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art: Artspaces offers an overview of the garden’s 2003 founding and themes. 64 pages, softcover. By Miranda Lash. $7.95