Current Exhibits
Finding the Light: Photography by Jim Bones
June 13–August 30, 2025
This exhibition showcases images of Texas and New Mexico by the late photographer. The works were recently acquired by the Wittliff Collections, the prime repository of the art of Jim Bones.
Candelilla Wax Production along the Rio Grande
Exhibit in the museum’s historic building
This selection of maps and objects explores the proliferate production of candelilla wax along the Rio Grande, from western Val Verde County to El Paso.
This map locates wax factories, refining plants, wax buyers, and associated towns. It is a reproduction from Curtis Tunnell’s “Wax, Men, and Money,” showing Figure 4 compiled with the inset, Figure 1, that illustrates the native distribution of candelilla along the Rio Grande.
Tom Lea: Western Beef Cattle
A series of rarely exhibited paintings by the late El Paso artist Tom Lea (Dallas Museum of Art, gift of LIFE Magazine) are on display in the permanent gallery of the new Emmett & Miriam McCoy building.
Image: Round Up Time: Branding a Calf, 1945-1946, Oil on canvas covered masonite, 20” x 33.75”, Tom Lea, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of LIFE Magazine, 1950.32
Fred Darge Paintings
Fred Darge (1900-1978) traveled extensively in Texas and other western states painting the pioneers and ranchmen of the region. These ten paintings make up the Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. McKee III Family Collection. Currently on exhibit in the Emmett & Miriam McCoy museum building.
Image: Going Home by Fred Darge
Find out more about the Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. McKee III Family Fred Darge Collection
Photographs by Ron Castle
Ron Castle is a native Texan and professional photographer working out of his studio near Del Rio. He spends much of his free time traveling throughout Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming gathering landscape and wildlife images as well as documenting the work and lifestyle of the American cowboy.
On exhibit in the Hallway Gallery next to the gift shop.
Big Bend Legacy
The exhibit Big Bend Legacy greets visitors as they enter the Museum of the Big Bend. Legacy introduces visitors to the distinctive natural history, human history and confluence of cultures in the Big Bend region. Native Americans inhabited the area for thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans. The Spanish, through their system of missions and presidios, imprinted their customs on the region only to be replaced by the nation of Mexico. The westward expansion of the United States brought yet another unique culture to the Big Bend. Big Bend Legacy invites the visitor to experience this panorama of natural and human history. Enjoy the video montage below which walks you through the museum’s world-class permanent exhibits!