Art at the Meadows

Our entire 40-acre property, designed by Herbert Bayer between 1953 and 1973, is considered a Bauhaus-inspired “total work of art.” Austrian-born Bayer (1900-1985) helped create the Aspen Institute's original grounds— weaving outdoor walkways through his sculpted landscape (mounds, ponds, and paths collectively known as his "earthworks") to connect seminar spaces to the residential complex, reminding the visitor of his or her relationship with nature, mind, and body. The property is the epitome of a Bauhaus environment.

The campus includes three art galleries and many Bayer-designed outdoor sculptures, including Anaconda, 1978, Marble Garden, 1955, and Kaliedoscreen, 1957 along with the iconic earthworks of Anderson Park.

In 2022, we opened the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies ("the Bayer Center”). This 7,000-square-foot, two-story, museum-grade art exhibition space preserves the legacy of Bayer, who studied and taught at the Bauhaus before emigrating from Germany to the United States in 1938 and moving to Aspen in 1946. The Bayer Center anchors the Aspen Institute’s campus-wide visual arts program, which includes over 9,000 square feet of gallery space, the Resnick Gallery in the Doerr-Hosier Center and the Paepcke Gallery in the Paepcke Memorial Building.

The Bayer Center is free and open to the public, open Tuesday - Saturday 12-5 p.m. Please sign up for a complimentary tour and plan time to visit us during your stay at the Aspen Meadows.