The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

After a global competition, and a monthslong selection process, museum officials announced the New York City firm Weiss/Manfredi will design their ambitious new expansion project. It's estimated to be the largest investment in Kansas City arts in recent years.

More than 100 years ago, Swedish-born artist Birger Sandzén helped shape the way Americans picture the Kansas landscape. Today, the largest collection of his paintings, prints, and drawings is in the small central Kansas town where he immigrated, lived and worked.

The Swedish painter shaped how the rest of the world viewed the hills and streams of Kansas, and the mountains of Colorado. The largest collection of his paintings, prints, and drawings is in the small central Kansas town where he immigrated, lived and worked.

The gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that administers about $260 million in grants to libraries and museums, has left a local museum in the lurch.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art recently selected six finalists to design new expansion plans, down from 180 submissions from around the world. Nelson President and CEO Julian Zugazagoitia and Board Chair Evelyn Belger discuss what they hope to see in a makeover of the Kansas City institution.

The six architecture firms competing to reimagine Kansas City’s premier museum had three months to dream up plans that will remake its Midtown campus. A new exhibit unveils the designs and will give the public a chance to share their thoughts.

“Strange and Familiar Places,” on view at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City through July 20, showcases 26 large-scale photographs by 10 contemporary artists, several with ties to Kansas and Missouri.

Wagers, contests, and collaborations between the City of Brotherly Love and the City of Fountains are blowing up the internet once again. Museums, zoos, restaurants, libraries, animal shelters, and more in Kansas City are all betting on the home team — and hoping for a “three-peat.”

No lejos de los icónicos gallitos de bádminton (Shuttlecocks) del museo, la nueva y enorme escultura de nieve puede verse en el césped al sur del Museo de Arte Nelson-Atkins. Es la última “colaboración congelada” de exalumnos del Instituto de Arte de Kansas City.

The huge new snow sculpture can be seen on the south lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, not far from the museum’s iconic “Shuttlecocks.” It’s the latest cold collaboration from former Kansas City Art Institute students.

"Mapping the Heavens: Art, Astronomy and Exchange Between the Islamic Lands and Europe" features paintings from the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, rare books from the Linda Hall Library and other sources to tell the story of how scientists across time, place and religion expanded early knowledge of astronomy.

Kansas City's crown-jewel museum launched in October a global competition to find an architectural firm for a $160 million expansion that would transform its Midtown campus. This week, museum visitors had a chance to hear from the finalists.