How a Walmart Heir’s Arkansas Museum Became a Soldier in The Culture Wars

ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO—NOVEMBER 11, 2011, TO BE EXACT—Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened its doors. The spotlight was immediately bright. It was the first major league museum built in the U.S in decades and the founders, Walmart heir Alice Walton and the family’s foundation, poured hundreds of millions into the building, designed by super architect Moshe Safdie, as well as the collection. One of the more striking examples: The $35 million-plus Walton paid, or some say overpaid, the New York Public Library for the Hudson River landscape Kindred Spirits by Asher Durand—a record at the time for an American painting. You, and everyone else, could also see Kindred Spirits for free thanks to Walmart.

The new museum also got a lot of notice because of its location. Northwest Arkansas may be the home of the biggest company in the world, but it’s never been an American cultural center. As far as most of the art world was concerned, Bentonville was literally in the middle of nowhere, and Walton was a super-rich art enthusiast trying to buy into the big leagues.

Now, the museum is not only an internationally respected institution, it’s also, by the numbers, a success. Despite the location, patrons have knocked down the doors. And recently, the museum began celebrating its 10th anniversary with the “Crystal Bridges at 10” exhibition. “We knew via email. “By the end of our first year, our attendance was 650,000—more than double our projection.” Since the opening, she adds, “5.3 million people have visited from every state in the country and across the world.”