Palm Springs art exhibit shows off the look and spirit of the West

How do you define the West? A new exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert comes close, through 45 works of art that capture the region’s look and spirit.

“A Grand Adventure: American Art of the West,” which opened Saturday, brings together pieces from private collections of artwork created in the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

The exhibition includes early landscapes by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, Native American figures by Maynard Dixon and Bert Geer Philips, and California Impressionists.

“The West became synonymous with the American ideals of freedom and individuality,” a museum release says. That theme flourished among Southwest and Southern Californian painters who created a whole new genre of Western art.

The show is at the Galen building at the Palm Springs Art Museum‘s location in Palm Desert. (The building and surrounding sculpture garden are named for benefactor Helene Galen whose $1-million gift created the satellite museum.)

Museum admission is free and open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and on the weekends, and noon to 8 p.m. Fridays. The show runs through Jan. 4.

Info: Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, 72-567 Highway 111; (760) 346-5600