Down the street from MMFA is The Hart Gallery, which represents contemporary European artists. Works by German abstract painter Thomas Ritter are on show through December. "The biggest thing that has changed in the desert is that people have gotten more sophisticated about art," says Christian Hohmann, Hart Gallery’s director. "When we first got here five years ago, clients would invite us to their homes to advise them on buying art and what they already had was just awful. But that’s largely because there just wasn’t much choice locally. Now everything has changed. And no matter what your tastes in art, you’ll find a good selection in any number of galleries."

Like most of the other prominent Palm Desert art dealers, Thom Gianetto of Edenhurst Gallery arrived about five years ago after owning a gallery for more than 15 years in West Hollywood. A frequent visitor to the area, Gianetto says he noticed the art scene picking up about seven years ago. "It became more serious and the exhibitions were of a higher caliber. It’s obvious that a lot of traveling collectors were establishing second homes in the desert and they were looking for the sort of art you could find in Boca Raton or South Miami. I think the galleries have responded to that."

The South Beach connection seems to extend to several hotels in the desert, as well. For instance, the Kor Hotel Group, owners of the Art Deco masterpiece The Tides in Miami, recently opened up the Viceroy Palm Springs, a sleek boutique hotel whose design reflects the Hollywood Regency style popular during the desert’s original glamour era, when Hollywood stars like Clark Gable and Joan Crawford stayed here. It’s also the center of the new desert art scene. Once a month, the hotel hosts an art event—usually a preview for an upcoming gallery show. Also exhibiting a South Beach flair is the Parker Palm Springs, a funky, eclectic property loved by those who love all things moderne.

While there are plenty of galleries to explore while visiting the Palm Springs area, do not overlook the recently renovated Palm Springs Art Museum. Nash scrapped a somewhat frumpy fall exhibition in favor of an iconic 1996 video-sound installation by Bill Viola called "The Crossing," which can be seen through December 23. From February 15 to May 4, 2008, the museum will exhibit 150 photographs by master photographer Julius Shulman of houses by renowned desert architects like Richard Neutra, Albert Frey and William Cody. The museum also has an excellent permanent collection of contemporary paintings and sculptures, as well as Western and Native American art and a new glass gallery. "A lot of exciting things are happening out in the desert this season," says Katherine Hough, the museum’s chief curator. "We have a fabulous exhibition of 20th-century American and European sculpture, called "Picasso to Moore: Modern Sculpture from the Weiner Collection," which will be up all year, and a wonderful show of works by the significant glass artists of our time. It’s all part of an important facelift we’ve just completed to provide better viewing of our exhibits."

David Lansing, the author of Fodor’s Escape to the American Desert, writes on architecture and interior design for the Los Angeles Times and other publications.

Buschlen Mowatt Galleries
760.837.9668 buschlenmowatt.com

Edenhurst Gallery
760.346.7900 edenhurstgallery.com

The Hart Gallery
760.346.4243 hartgallery.com

Heather James Art & Antiquities
760.346.8926 heatherjames.com

Imago Galleries
760.776.9890 imagogalleries.com

Modern Masters Fine Art
760.341.1056 modernmastersfineart.com

Palm Springs Art Museum
760.325.7186 psmuseum.org

Parker Palm Springs
760.770.5000 theparkerpalmsprings.com

Viceroy Palm Springs
760.320.4117 viceroypalmsprings.com