Phoenix has a wonderful reason to revisit one of its most beloved artists. Happy City News is delighted to share that The Art of Philip C. Curtis opened on September 26, 2026, at Phoenix Art Museum, and it is now on view on an ongoing basis in a freshly reimagined home.
The installation marks the newly relocated Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis, now in the Ballinger Wing — and it is the inaugural installation of that wing. Visitors will find paintings from the museum’s own collection presented alongside archival materials from Curtis’s personal archives, a pairing that deepens understanding of how the artist worked and imagined.
Philip C. Curtis (1907–2000) is one of Arizona’s most celebrated artists. After helping to establish the state’s first art center through the Works Progress Administration and making Scottsdale his lifelong home, he created dreamlike, gently surreal narratives inspired by the circus, entertainment, his dreams, and his turn-of-the-century childhood. Works such as Farewell to the Band (1967) and The Bride’s Descent (1973) invite viewers to see Arizona’s desert landscape and its people through that poetic, otherworldly lens.
Phoenix Art Museum is at 1625 North Central Avenue. It is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., with Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays from 3 to 8 p.m. It is a calm, inspiring stop for art lovers of every age.
Photo: Phoenix Art Museum
