The Des Moines Art Center has amassed an important Permanent Collection with a major emphasis on contemporary art. The Permanent Collection's overriding principle is a representation of artists from the 19th century to the present, each through a seminal work. This accounts for an impressive collection that ranges from Edward Hopper's Automat to Jasper Johns' Tennyson, Henri Matisse’s Woman in White, Georgia O’Keeffe’s From the Lake No. 1,
Francis Bacon’s Study after Velásquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Bill Viola's Ascension,
and Cecily Brown's Half-Bind.
 
The Permanent Collection includes a number of individual collections that have been established through donation of funds or bequests of artwork. These collections include the Irma and Julian Brody Collection, John C. Huseby Print Collection, Louise Noun Collection of Art by Women, Paul and Anastasia Polydoran Collection, and most notably the Nathan Emory Coffin Collection.
 
For information about pieces in the collection, email:
Mickey Koch, associate registrar
or
Laura Burkhalter, associate curator