Sculpture Garden Near Me in Miami Beach: Miami Mountain and Collins Park

Collins Park, the city park at 2100 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, is free and open every day from sunrise to sunset, and it doubles as The Bass Museum of Art's outdoor gallery. The headline is Ugo Rondinone's Miami Mountain, a 42-foot column of five fluorescent boulders at 21st Street and Collins Avenue. If you searched for a sculpture garden near me in Miami Beach, start here: no ticket, no reservation, and a museum behind it that opens Wednesday to Sunday from noon.

The land came from pioneer John Stiles Collins, whose donation of ten acres the Miami Beach City Council accepted on October 21, 1912. The museum arrived much later. John and Johanna Bass bequeathed more than 500 works, from Old Master paintings to textiles and sculpture, to the city in 1963, and the museum opened in 1964 inside the former Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center.

That building is a 1930s Art Deco design by Russell Pancoast, Collins' grandson, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Arata Isozaki added a new wing in 2001, and a second renovation with Isozaki and David Gauld added about half again as much programmable space before the museum reopened on October 29, 2017.

Rondinone's stack went up during Art Basel week in December 2016 and is permanently installed. The five boulders are Nevada limestone, between 15 and 30 tons each, held together by a hidden steel core, and painted in fluorescent colors. The artist took his cue from hoodoo rock formations, and it followed his larger Seven Magic Mountains outside Las Vegas, unveiled in May 2016. The Bass bought it through the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund.

The work was the first of Rondinone's mountain series acquired by a museum, and the city's free trolley stop next to it is literally named Miami Mountain. Plan photos around the park's own schedule: the free NOBE Yoga in the Park class, for ages 14 and over, fills the lawn on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7 pm, so earlier in the day is calmer.

The Bass calls its outdoor program Art Outside, and it rewards a slow lap. Sylvie Fleury's neon Eternity Now, from 2015, glows on the historic facade facing the park. Jim Drain's Chess Tables from 2014, two tables and four chairs, are made for actual games: borrow chess pieces from the front desk during museum hours. Lawrence Weiner's 2008 text work in the park is about sea level, a pointed subject on a barrier island.

Then walk to the reflecting pool at Park Avenue and 22nd Street, where Susan Philipsz's 2019 sound piece, Too Much I Once Lamented, plays over the water. Until the end of October 2026 there is also Circular Practice, a window installation in the Walgreens storefront at 23rd Street and Collins Avenue, a storefront you would otherwise walk straight past.

A newer stop sits inside the park itself. The Rotunda, at 2150 Collins Avenue, was designed in 1962 by Herbert A. Mathes as the old library's assembly room and is wrapped by Albert Vrana's sand-cast concrete mural, The Story of Man. The city spent $3.15 million restoring it, finishing in spring 2026, and The Bass now runs it as a free, air-conditioned gallery.

Its opening show was Pascale Marthine Tayou's Welcome Wall, and the museum now lists Abraham Cruzvillegas' Autocontusión there. The Rotunda keeps the museum's schedule, Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 5 pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. On a hot afternoon it is the best free place in the park to cool off between outdoor pieces.

Museum admission is $15, or $8 for seniors 65 and over, college students and visitors aged 7 to 18. Children 6 and under get in free, and so do Miami Beach and Surfside residents with proof of address, active-duty and retired military with a guest, SNAP EBT cardholders with up to three guests, and visitors with a disability plus a caregiver. Free Bass Highlights tours run every Saturday at 2 pm.

Current shows include Yuko Mohri: Unviolated Imperfection through May 30, 2027, Amalia Pica: Lecturas Posibles through February 12, 2027, and Sarah Zapata through February 28, 2027. On October 28, 2026, Pedro y Juana: Aquí opens, a room whose rosy wallpaper trees are silhouettes of the real trees in Collins Park, so see the park first.

The outdoor pieces are on view whenever the park is open, so a Monday or Tuesday still works for Miami Mountain and the chess tables, just not for the chess pieces or the Rotunda. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving, November 26, and Christmas Day. Walk-ins are fine, there are no timed tickets, and an online ticket stays valid for a year.

Inside, leave oversized bags at the hotel or in the car; the bag and coat check is self-service. No outside food or drink is allowed, and do not touch the art. The Bass does not take Apple Pay, Android Pay or PayPal, so carry a card. Accessible entrances with ramps are on 22nd Street and Park Avenue, and service animals are welcome.

The Collins Park Garage at 340 23rd Street is one block north of the museum and charges $2 an hour for the first four hours. The free trolley's South Beach Loops A and B stop at Miami Mountain, and the Middle Beach Loop and Collins Express stop at Collins Park. Miami-Dade buses 14, 36, 79, 100 and 150 serve the area. Miami City Ballet sits a block west at 2200 Liberty Avenue, and the Miami Beach Regional Library is at 227 22nd Street, which makes a quiet indoor stop on the days the museum is closed.

Address: Collins Park and The Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139. The park is open daily from sunrise to sunset and free. The Bass and The Rotunda open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 5 pm. Museum tickets are $15, and The Rotunda is free.