Goldwell Open Air Museum

Goldwell Open Air Museum

The Goldwell Open Air Museum is Beatty’s weird and wonderful outdoor art zone—huge sculptures dropped right into the desert just down the road from Rhyolite ghost town. You pull up expecting old ruins and instead find ghostly figures, giant blocks, and color popping out of the landscape in the middle of nowhere.

It all started with Belgian artist Albert Szukalski in the 1980s, when he created The Last Supper—those life-sized, sheet-like “ghosts” lined up against the desert backdrop. He made them by draping plaster-soaked fabric over live models, so each figure has its own haunting shape and posture. The result looks half spiritual, half spooky, and totally unforgettable.

Other artists soon joined in, adding more big, bold pieces to the site. There’s a blocky, pixel-style “Venus,” a chrome “Desert Flower” made from car parts, a lone “Ghost Rider” with a bicycle, and other sculptures that feel like they’re in conversation with the empty space around them. Every piece leans into the vastness, silence, and strangeness of the Mojave.

The museum sits on several acres and includes the Red Barn Art Center, which supports artist residencies and workshops. That means Goldwell isn’t just a place where art was made—it’s a place where art keeps happening, with new projects, visiting artists, and evolving installations over time.

Best of all, Goldwell is open, free, and easy to wander at your own pace. Visitors can stroll the sculptures, explore nearby abandoned buildings, walk the labyrinth, and soak in that incredible view across the valley. It pairs perfectly with a trip to Rhyolite or a day based in Beatty—come for the ghost town, stay for the ghostly art in the desert.