Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

🎧 Music sits at the heart of David McGee’s creative practice. When you visit “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale,” you can experience the exhibition through three curated playlists that add a whole new layer to what you’re seeing.   Think of it as the exhibitions soundtrack featuring: @davidmcgee773 ’s personal playlist, a curated selection from @blacknotesproject , and an original score by composer @beckeresque . Each one brings a different vibe, offering new ways to connect with the work.   Listening tips: • Headphones recommended • Keep volume considerate • Scan QR codes in-gallery to unlock each track 🔗 link in bio to access the full playlist experience.

@djovantony will explain all the art pieces in his Obama for you tomorrow. Don’t miss our show THURSDAY MAY 14 @thebechtler 🖼️ 📆 May 14 ⏰ Laughs 7:30 📍 @thebechtler 🎟️ link in bio

👀🎭 This improv show will have you cry-laughing all night! Join us for Art of Improv with @shamelessimprov , where every line is made up completely on the spot—with inspiration from the audience and current exhibition. Thursday, May 14 6:30 PM : Galleries Open 7:30 PM: Improv Show 🎟️ Tickets are going fast! Grab yours now: $15 non-member | $10 member Link in bio. ✨ Keep the night going at The Modernists After Party after the show—drinks, conversation, and community included.

Us looking for laughs when you’re not around. There’s none. We need you. @thebechtler needs you. This Thursday. 7:30. Bring your suggestions, bring your friends, bring your laugh. @djovantony hit his head while filming this. The things we do for art. 📆 May 14 📍 @thebechtler ⏰ Laughs at 7:30 🎟️ Link in bio

Our preshow ritual to make sure we have a good show this coming Thursday @thebechtler 🐦‍🔥 📆 May 14 ⏰ Door & explore the museum @ 6:30 Laughs @ 7:30 📍 @thebechtler 🎟️ Link in bio

Love, in full color 🎨💐 Created during the COVID-19 pandemic while his mother Gloria was undergoing cancer treatment, McGee’s “Gloria Paintings” transform a moment of profound vulnerability into something radiant and alive. What he describes as “a bouquet to [my mother’s] spirit and vigor,” the series is filled with bold color, thick paint, and joyful movement. ✨ On view in “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale.” #happymothersday #davidmcgee #bechtlermuseum

Moms get in FREE this Mother’s Day weekend at the Bechtler 💐 (Sat, May 9 + Sun, May 10)   Celebrate the mother or mother figure in your life with a day surrounded by art, creativity, and inspiration. 🗣️Just mention this post at the front desk to unlock free admission.   🎁 Need a last-minute gift? Stop by the Museum Store for unique finds—or give the gift of a Bechtler membership. During Members Month, all new memberships are 20% off throughout May! 📸 Ghost Crab Productions, LLC

“This is Monet or somebody right?” Jeff Goldblum shouldn’t contain himself and neither should you. Come laugh and let loose with us next week for our show @thebechtler 🖼️ 📆 May 14 📍 @thebechtler ⏰ Door & exhibition @ 6:30. Laughs @ 7:30 🎟️ Link in bio Shoutout to our friend Sarah for the Oscar worthy performance. 🎬

🗓️ WED, MAY 13 | 6–8:30 PM The Bechtler is partnering with @slamcharlotte and @bluzbluzbluz for a drop-in ekphrastic poetry workshop—where visual art inspires the written word. Using “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” as a starting point, experience live spoken word, gallery-based prompts, and time to write, reflect, and share. Featuring performances by: ✨ @honorconfersacrwn ✨ @frank_expression ✨ @devpoetic Admission is FREE from 5–9 PM—pull up anytime, stay as long as you want ✨ 🔗 Link in bio to RSVP (free) + bring a friend See you soon!

🍎👞Symbolism takes center stage throughout “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale.” Though text does not appear in this early series, language is embedded in the paintings through metaphor and wordplay, infusing them with layered significance. Visitors are introduced to this from the very beginning.   Upon entry, guests are greeted by “The Wastelands,” McGee’s first mature body of work, which establishes themes that would reverberate throughout his career and sets the tone for a richly layered experience. 👀 📝Created between 1992 and 1995, the series draws from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” transforming themes of moral crisis and spiritual dislocation into bold color, symbolic forms, and expressive gestures.   “I wanted those paintings to have a sense of atmospheric speed. There was no top, there was no bottom, just this feeling of not having anything to hold onto. And that’s how I felt when I was young.” - David McGee   🗓️“David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” on view through August 23, 2026.   Credits: - “Love Is Blindness” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil, enamel, and newsprint on canvas, 96 x 96 in. Dallas Museum of Art, Gift of the Professional Members League, 1995.43 - “Sperm Rush” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil on canvas, 69 13/16 x 66 ¼ in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. I. H. Kempner III and Jeanne and Michael Klein, 94.107. - “Untitled” from “The Wastelands” series, 1994, Oil on canvas, 70 x 67 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Michael A. Caddell and Cynthia Chapman, 2005.1857

🎉 Member Appreciation Month is here!   May is all about you at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. To say thank you, we’re celebrating with exclusive perks, special events, and limited-time offers all month long.   ✨ Take 20% off new memberships with code May20 ☕ Join us for a members-only Coffee & Conversation 🛍️ Enjoy extra savings in the Museum Store 👯 Bring friends for free during select dates 🎶 Plus, surprise perks like free jazz tickets   It’s also the perfect time to experience our newest exhibition, “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale”—a vibrant exploration of memory, music, and storytelling.   Your support makes it all possible—and we can’t wait to celebrate with you.   🔗 Tap the link in bio to explore more!

🎷 Happy #internationaljazzday 🎷   Today we celebrate the power of jazz as a global language of improvisation, memory, and meaning.   Featured in “David McGee: The Griot and the Nightingale” is “Lush Life” from the “Blue Hour” series (1997).    In “Lush Life,” McGee reimagines Jacques-Louis David’s “The Death of Marat” (1793) through the lens of African American cultural history, transforming the iconic pose into a layered self-portrait where image, text, and music collide. Words appear throughout the composition—tattooed, inscribed, and floating—forming a web of references to identity, authorship, and jazz history.   Echoes of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” resonate alongside visual metaphors: a trumpet that both “proclaims” and sings, a wine bottle whose “whine” becomes improvisational voice, and fragile balloons that hold language in suspension. A chimpanzee adds a playful, subversive edge—reminding us that meaning in McGee’s world is always multilayered.   🎶 Reel Sound on or click the link in our bio to hear the music McGee chose to accompany the work: Coleman Hawkins’ “Body and Soul.”   Image: David McGee, “Lush Life” from the “Blue Hour” series, 1997, oil on canvas. Collection of Robert J. Card, MD and Karol Kreymer.