Madden Collection

At the Madden Museum of Art

In 2016, John Madden Jr. gifted 133 works of art from his private collection to the University of Denver. Over the course of their marriage, Madden and his late wife Marjorie built the Madden Collection with pieces they loved. The Collection includes works from Western painters to American masters and styles ranging from contemporary to impressionist.

In the search for a permanent home for the Collection, Madden explored multiple opportunities, but ultimately decided to leave the Collection to the University. Here it could be enjoyed by the community, and also used as an educational resource for students and faculty.

The Madden Collection creates new opportunities for DU students studying art history, museum studies, studio art, and many other fields. It provides behind-the-scenes access to original artworks for research, curatorial projects, and professional training opportunities.

Contemporary artwork in the Madden Museum

Contemporary Art

The Maddens collected works by artists who had a special connection to their family, including Chen Chi, Robert Rauschenberg, Wilson Hurley, and Daniel Sprick. There are multiple pieces represented in the Collection by these artists, among others.

The collection includes 19th and early 20th century art

Art from the 19th Century and Early 20th Century

The Collection also includes themes such as landscapes, animals, and labor. Depictions of labor had a special connection to John Madden Jr.’s father who worked at the cattle yards of Omaha, Nebraska, and who credits his business success to his personal work ethic.

Students work with a pice of art in the Madden Collection

Art Programming

From exhibitions and workshops to training and research, the Madden Collection provides multiple opportunities for DU and Denver-area communities to learn from and engage with art and museum operations in a more hands-on environment.
John Madden Jr.

About

Profile of John Madden Jr.

John Madden Jr. is founder of the John Madden Company, a commercial development company located in Greenwood Village. He is credited for developing Greenwood Village as it’s known today. Greenwood Village and the Denver Tech Center were farm and ranch lands before Madden came to Denver in 1970. Through his company, he developed most of the office buildings and cultural facilities in the area, including Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater and the Palazzo Verdi building in which the Madden Museum of Art is located. Seeing the importance of merging the arts and business, Madden founded the Colorado Business Council for the Arts to encourage other business leaders to support to community arts. As a developer, Madden had the unique opportunity to design the roughly 5,000–square-foot art museum to house his then-private art collection as well as other changing exhibitions. When looking for a home for his art collection, Madden turned to the University of Denver’s School of Art & Art History and their internationally recognized art history and museum studies program to care for his collection and the Madden Museum of Art.

Contact

Madden Collection

Hours:
Monday–Friday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed

General Admission:
Free and open to the public

Address:
6363 S. Fiddlers Green Circle
Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Nicole Parks

Program Director