A BAMD OF SILVERY LIGHT runs along the body of a freshly caught mackerel in Anne Vallayer-Coster’s 1787 painting Still Life with Mackerel. The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth acquired the painting in 2019. As I stand before it, admiring the French artist’s exquisite sensitivity to her subject, I am aware that another band of silvery light runs over my head. This light, fluid and shifting, is natural light that streams in through narrow 100-foot-long plexiglass skylights. The skylights, running north to south down the length of the gallery’s vaulted ceilings, are hidden behind suspended aluminum reflectors that distribute and soften the direct sunlight. The effect is that of walking beneath a cool wintery sky.
The Kimbell Museum is located in Fort Worth’s cultural district in good company with the city’s many other riches, among them the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth just across the street, the nearby Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Bass Performance Hall, and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. The Kimbell began celebrating its 50th anniversary in October with 50 programs and an exhibit through October 2023, The Kimbell at 50, all of which look at half a century of acquisitions, design, special exhibitions, and community engagement.
Its art collection is housed in two buildings designed about 40 years apart by renowned architects Louis I. Kahn and Renzo Piano. The buildings opened to the public in 1972 and 2013, respectively. In a setting that is at once
