Highlights
- Phoenix Art Museum has opened a new exhibit honoring the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
- The show explores the artistic legacy of America's most storied highway, as reported by FOX 10.
- The museum, founded in 1959, holds more than 20,000 artworks at its Central Avenue campus.
- The exhibit joins a full 2026 season that includes fashion, Indigenous art, and interactive audio installations.
A new exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66 by exploring the art the highway inspired across its 2,400-mile run from Chicago to Santa Monica. FOX 10 reporter Desiree Fluellen previewed the show, which the museum describes as examining the art behind America's open road.
The Route 66 centennial is drawing institutional attention nationally. The New York Times has covered the highway's anniversary as a cultural moment, describing Route 66 as a "linear museum stretched across eight states," and the Official U.S. Route 66 Centennial organization has coordinated commemorations across the corridor.
The Phoenix Art Museum, at 1625 N. Central Ave., was founded in 1959 and holds a collection of more than 20,000 artworks. The museum's own press room notes it has served its community for sixty years.
The Route 66 show arrives during a dense exhibition season. The museum's current exhibitions page lists Colorwear: A Kaleidoscope of Fashion, running April 2026 through August 2027 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of its fashion collection; The Way We Came, opening August 2026 and featuring nearly 100 Indigenous artists representing more than 40 tribal nations; and Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Instrument of Troubled Dreams, which opened in June 2026 as the first Arizona showing of that interactive audio installation. The Eric Fischl: Stories Told exhibition runs through June 14, 2026.
The museum also recently opened Alden, a 3,862-square-foot renovated restaurant on the premises serving new American cuisine, and offers free admission to portions of its collection through its Free to See program. Hours run Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Ticket and exhibition details are available at phxart.org.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- Fox 10 Phoenix retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
- nytimes.com retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
- mapquest.com retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
- phxart.org retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
- phxart.org retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
- phxart.org retrieved 13/06/2026 00:18
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 13/06/2026 00:18. Every claim traces to a source.
