Western art is big business these days. In February, a painting by 19th-century cowboy specialist Frederic Remington sold for an absurd $11 million at auction in New York. Just a month before that, a new record was set for the most profitable sale of a Western art collection in U.S. history: works previously owned by energy titan Bill Koch went for $84 million. “Culturally, the West is having a moment,” Christie’s head of American art, Tylee Abbott, told Artnet.

That’s good news for Denver art fans, too, as paintings and sculptures that celebrate rural life and cowboy culture are popping up in venues across the metro. Below, explore four of our favorite spots.

American Museum of Western Art

  • Where: 1727 Tremont Place, Denver (Downtown)
  • Entry: $5
  • Hours: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

Large oil paintings in gold frames are densely but thoughtfully packed onto the walls in a floor-to-ceiling salon style that invites visitors to linger over this downtown museum’s three floors of galleries. On the lower two floors, find paintings of cowboys and American Indians by Frederic Remington; then head upstairs for Expressionist surprises like Birger Sandzén’s candy-colored visions of Rocky Mountain National Park, with chunky impasto brushstrokes that leap off the canvas. It’s all inside an 1889 building that was once a brothel, connected by a secret underground passageway to the nearby Brown Palace Hotel.

A portrait of rodeo star Bill Pickett
Photo courtesy of Black American West Museum & Heritage Center

Black American West Museum & Heritage Center

  • Where: 3091 California St., Denver (Curtis Park)
  • Entry: $18 adults, $16 seniors, $13 students and military, five and under free
  • Hours: 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

By the late 1800s, a quarter of all Colorado cowboys were Black. Inside a red brick house in Curtis Park, their often overlooked stories come alive. A portrait of rodeo star Bill Pickett hangs alongside hats, saddles, and spurs worn by his peers, whom whites often excluded from the sport. The competition he launched in Denver in 1984, the Bill Pickett Invitational, continues as a nationwide circuit. The museum is housed in the Five Points home of Dr. Justina Ford, the first licensed Black female physician in Colorado; you can join a walking tour of the neighborhood to explore its rich history

Madden Gallery at the Museum of Outdoor Arts 

  • Where: 6363 South Fiddler’s Green Circle, Suite 110, Greenwood Village
  • Entry: Free
  • Hours: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and Saturdays 12–5 p.m.

Art in unexpected places is always fun, and that’s exactly what the Madden Gallery is. It’s tucked inside a 15-story office tower surrounded by other office towers, the work of late developer (and art lover) John Madden Jr. “Beyond the Western Horizon,” on view through July 31, offers a quirky, modern take on country life, with standout pieces by Denver artists Maeve Eichelberger, who molds translucent neon saddles from acrylic, and Corbett Kessler, who adorns the skulls of bighorn sheep, longhorn, and buffalo with as many as 86,000 tiny glass beads

Katherine and J. Robert Wilson Art Gallery at the National Western

  • Where: 4800 National Western Drive, Denver (Elyria-Swansea)
  • Entry: Free
  • Hours: 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and 11 a.m.–2 p.m. on second Saturdays

This collection, which opened in January in the National Western Center’s new Legacy building, starts in the lobby: Mean-mugging and brandishing a pistol in a corner is John Wayne, as depicted in an Andy Warhol screenprint. Inside, find playful cowboy-and-cowgirl portraits by Trinidad’s Arthur Roy Mitchell, alongside gorgeous landscapes like “Only a Matter of Time,” by Edwards-based painter David Griffin. That luminous oil painting shows storm clouds rolling over the plains, and you can practically smell the rain.