The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University is a repository of cultural knowledge. It was founded by Jane Lathrop Stanford and initially named the Leland Stanford Junior Museum in memory of her late son. A visit to the museum is free of charge, thanks to donations from the Cantors and other generous patrons of the arts. The Cantor Center also provides several docent-led tours that cover various highlights of the museum, including the sculptures that embellish the Stanford campus.

There are over 20 exhibits in the Cantor Center that encompass an enormous amount of international heritage and craft. Many of these are organized by ethnic origin, ranging from African statues to Japanese samurai armor. One of the most striking pieces is an enormous totem gateway covered in bright colors and carved bird heads.

The Cantor Center has the third most extensive collection of Rodin sculptures in the world after the French and Philadelphian museums dedicated to the artist. The celebrated “Gates of Hell” sculpture towers over the garden with “Adam and Eve” framing it. Above the gates sits “The Thinker,” a prominent figure in the sculpture art world. B. Gerald Cantor, a benefactor of the Center, was a great aficionado of Rodin. When the Leland Stanford Junior Museum sustained damage from the 1906 earthquake, he and his wife Iris contributed a great deal of money to rebuild the center. All in all, the Leland Stanford Junior Museum lost about two-thirds of its original facilities in the quake and was forced to close its doors temporarily.

The Contemporary Fredrich Family Gallery holds several famous works from calming oil paintings of everyday life to the brilliantly colored Andy Warhol prints. The museum also has a current visiting gallery of Richard Diebenkorn creations. The Diebenkorn exhibit is a personal collection that contains several pieces of Californian artwork spanning a lifetime of friendship between the artist Diebenkorn and collector Carey Stanton.

Starting Nov. 12, the Cantor Center will display their exhibit, “Dürer to Picasso: Passion For Collecting.” The European and American works span the Renaissance to World War II and were chosen specifically for their noteworthy qualities and rarity. The exhibit will reside in the Pigott Family Gallery and will boast a collection of 100 works by 50 exceptional artists. The exhibit was funded by the Robert Mondavi Family Fund and several other public and private donors and will run through Feb. 15. The exhibit “Timbuktu to Cape Town” will arrive Dec. 3 and run through March 22, 2009. The Center will also open a permanent exhibit, “Rodin! The Complete Stanford Collection” in February.

With collections ranging from the classic to the contemporary, the Cantor Center is a fabulous place to absorb the arts. It is a privilege to have this trove of beauty and history available in Palo Alto.