Prickly pear, Big Bend Region. Photo by Richard Reynolds
Marfa
This city’s thriving arts community and fabulous hotels have generated a lot of buzz-West Texas has never been so hip. The classic movie Giant was filmed here in 1955, and if you want to take part in this slice of movie history, arrange to stay in Elizabeth Taylor’s namesake suite at the Paisano Hotel. The newer Thunderbird Hotel is also a great place for a getaway. The Marfa Lights, first documented in 1883, remain a mesmerizing and unexplained phenomenon. This tiny town has become a mecca for artists, poets, designers, and musicians, who have congregated here since Donald Judd created the Chinati Foundation which opened to the public in the mid-1980s. Marfa has 25 economical, 90 moderate, 20 first-class, and 10 deluxe accommodations.
Created and founded by artist Donald Judd in 1986, Chinati exhibits permanent large-scale installations of contemporary art. Hailed by many as the last important art statement of the 20th century, this art exists in the context in which it was meant to be. The foundation, located on the former site of Fort D. A. Russell at the edge of town, includes works by Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Claes Oldenburg, Coosje van Bruggen, and John Chamberlain, as well as temporary exhibitions of other works.
Open daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Call for tours. 12
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