C.M. Russell Museum

The C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls is devoted to Charles Marion Russell (died 1926), the painter and sculptor whose scenes of cowboys, Native people and the open range shaped how the American West is pictured. The museum stands beside the house he lived in and the studio he built, so the paintings hang a short walk from the room where many of them were made. He produced an estimated 4,000 to 4,500 works in about 30 years as a professional artist.

Inside, the galleries show Russell's oils, watercolours and bronzes alongside work by other artists of the American West. Works in the collection include the small 1887 watercolour Waiting for a Chinook, also known as Last of the 5,000, painted in the year of the hard winter of 1886–87 on the northern range; The Exalted Ruler, a 1912 oil of a bull elk; and the 1916 bronze The Last Laugh. Exhibitions change through the year, so check the museum's site for what is on.

Next door are the two historic buildings. Russell built his log cabin studio in 1903 and worked there for the rest of his career. The two-storey frame house beside it was built in 1900 and was the Russells' home. Together they were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The house was moved a short distance in 1973 as the museum grew.

The museum opened on 26 September 1953 as the Trigg-Russell Memorial Gallery and took its present name in 1972. Admission includes the galleries, the studio and the home. Note that the home is generally shown only in the summer season (May to September); the studio is on the grounds year-round. Ask at the desk which buildings are open on the day.

From 1 October to 30 April the museum switches to winter hours and opens Thursday to Monday only, 10 am to 5 pm, so a Tuesday or Wednesday visit this winter will find it shut. It also closes on Thanksgiving (26 November 2026) and from 22 December 2026 to 1 January 2027. Allow at least two hours, and longer if a special exhibition is on. The museum also has a research centre and runs education programmes and tours; scheduled groups should book two weeks ahead.