Free and cheap events at Wolfsonian on Miami Beach

The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum is more than just a venue to view art exhibitions. It also hosts free book discussions, art classes, and guided tours.

Weekly on Fri | 6–6:45pm

Free Friday Guided Tours

Learn more about The Wolfsonian and related art and design themes during a 45-minute free guided tour of the building, collection, or exhibitions. New guides bring different perspectives each week! Free and open to the public.

Fri, Dec 13 | 6–9pm

Second Shift

It’s SoBe’s best-kept nightlife secret: when the other happy hours wind down, we keep the killer specials going! For a sophisticated date night that will be kind on your wallet, pencil in a stop at The Wolf. First take a free guided tour of the galleries at 6pm, then head downstairs to the Design Store for half-priced beer, wine, and mixed drinks. After pregaming with our one-two punch of culture and cocktails, you’ll be right in the heart of the action only a couple of blocks from Ocean Drive—perfectly situated to hit the town in style. Free and open to the public; drinks available for purchase.

Thu, Dec 19 | 6–9pm

Miami Beach Culture Crawl

We’re partnering with the City of Miami Beach and neighboring institutions in select months to present free evenings of à la carte culture. Just hop on the complimentary trolley service stopping at each of the participating locations (or grab your bike or comfy walking shoes!) and take in the best of South Beach’s art, performances, screenings, and tours. Plan your night as you like it—choose a couple of spots, or make the full rounds, 6–9pm. Visit mbartsandculture.org for full details and route.

We’ve got your gift list covered for the holidays! ‘Tis the season to shop and cocktail, with a 10% one-night-only Design Store discount, festive treats, and a 2-for-1 happy hour featuring a special merry drink. If that’s not enough, try some artist-led sketching in the galleries to spend some time in the Wolfsonian collection (stools and materials provided). Free and open to the public

Friday nights are your chance to experience The Wolf for free—plus, on select Fridays, catch a 45-minute tour in Spanish at 6:15pm. New guides bring different perspectives. Free and open to the public

Fri, Dec 27 | 7–8:30pm

Sketching in the Galleries

Tap into your inner artist by sketching in our galleries! Drawing materials, gallery stools, and professional bilingual instruction provided to participants of all ages and skill levels. English/Spanish

EXHIBITIONS + INSTALLATIONS
A Universe of Things: Micky Wolfson Collects
Over the course of more than three decades, an astounding diversity of materials has arrived in Miami Beach from all over the globe. Stained glass windows and paintings, vases and sideboards, posters, prints, books, and ephemera fill warehouses. They arrive in massive crates, wrapped boxes, or shopping bags, all to be catalogued, researched, preserved, studied, and perhaps exhibited or published. Suitcases of documentation—invoices, receipts, notes on napkins, and more—are sifted through and archived for future scholarship. This massive undertaking is the life’s work of collector and raconteur Mitchell “Micky” Wolfson, Jr., and has become the cornerstone of the museum that bears his name.In A Universe of Things: Micky Wolfson Collects, The Wolfsonian examines Wolfson’s life of collecting by exploring how objects form networks that connect across time and cultures. In recognition of Wolfson’s 80th birthday, the exhibition will feature beloved icons and unexpected finds in a presentation timed to coincide with the publication of the book Founder’s Choice (Scala Publishers), which highlights 37 key collection objects selected by Wolfson himself.A Universe of Things is made possible by Funding Arts Network, Inc. (FAN).Through Jan 26Caricaturas
Caricature combines portraiture with satirical wit and style. In conjunction with Cuban Caricature and Culture, our installation about Conrado Walter Massaguer—one of the leading practitioners of the form in Latin America—this display from our library collection presents works of his contemporaries from Mexico and his native Cuba, where caricature was especially vital in the early and mid-twentieth century, promoting celebrity culture and contributing to political critique. The caricatures on display include such revered and reviled world leaders as President Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth II, Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler; celebrities like George Bernard Shaw, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Diego Rivera, and Charlie Chaplin; and portraits and self-portraits of famous caricaturists like Miguel Covarrubias and Xavier Cugat.Through Feb 2
Cuban Caricature and Culture: The Art of Massaguer
With his biting political satire, celebrity caricatures, and magazine and advertising illustrations, graphic artist Conrado Walter Massaguer (1889–1965) helped shape the visual culture of his native Cuba between the 1920s and 1950s. This installation of works recently gifted to The Wolfsonian Library by Vicki Gold Levi will bring forth Massaguer’s legacy through dozens of works, from images of the “New Woman” flapper ideal (the so-called “Massa-girls”) in his magazine Social to depictions of tropical paradise for the Cuban Tourist Commission. Massaguer’s transnational reach will be shown in his covers for Collier’s and Life, while cartoons of visiting dignitaries and Hollywood stars will reveal how he rubbed shoulders with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, and the King of Spain—all evidence of an artist at the center of Havana’s cosmopolitan culture in the decades before the Cuban Revolution.Ongoing
Deco: Luxury to Mass Market
“Art Deco” has come to evoke a set of styles that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s out of aspirations to fuse art and industry into a modern language of design. From exquisite handcrafted objects to streamlined household appliances, the items on display in Deco will demonstrate how American designers adapted a style associated with European luxury to the demands of industrial mass production. Through decorative arts, product design, architecture, and graphics from the Wolfsonian collection, the exhibition will trace Art Deco’s origins in Europe, its migration to the United States, and its evolution into a fully American style—perhaps most spectacularly realized on Miami Beach in the 1930s.

Deco: Luxury to Mass Market is made possible by Diane and Alan Lieberman and the South Beach Group, with the support of Jamestown, L.P., and Saul and Jane Gross and Streamline Properties.

Ongoing
Art and Design in the Modern Age: Selections from the Wolfsonian Collection
These galleries provide an overview of the museum’s holdings of American and European artifacts from 1850 to 1950. Culled from The Wolfsonian collection are approximately three hundred works in a variety of formats, ranging from books, posters, and postcards to decorative arts, architectural models, paintings, and sculptures. Focal points include design reform movements, urbanism, industrial design, transportation, world’s fairs, advertising, and political propaganda. Inaugurated in November 1996, this ongoing exhibition is periodically updated.

The Wolfsonian is at 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139. Call 305-531-1001 for more info. Admission is $12 for adults; $8 for seniors, students, and children ages 6–18; and free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, and children under 6. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 10am–6pm; Friday, 10am–9pm; Sunday, noon–6pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Visit online at wolfsonian.org for further information.

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