With the vision of turning "Bentonville (Arkansas) into an international destination for art lovers," Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton continues to build out her "Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art," which she started working on in 2007.
Walton has committed the project to displaying American art only, which will be housed in a 217,000 square foot series of galleries.
There is no expense being spared for the unique art museum, which is scheduled to be opened in November 2011. It appears already $1 billion has been garnered for the project, with more where that came from when needed.
Alice Walton has a fortune of about $21 billion she inherited from her father Sam Walton, who launched the retail chain, and the Walton Family Foundation has already endowed the museum with $800 million.
More importantly, Walton isn't a clueless rich woman throwing her money around, as she has a good sense of art history and art works, and can intelligently make decisions and give input concerning what she wants and the scope and direction she wants the museum to take.
Although some have raised their eyebrows at the American-only focus of Walton concerning the art museum, she said in a recent New Yorker article, "My parents were both very patriotic, and I would not consider anything but American art."
A $20 donation to the museum by Wal-Mart will allow everyone to enjoy the art for free.
The museum will officially open on November 11, 2011
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