The Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert opened in March of 2012. This architecturally distinctive, LEED Certified building and the beautifully landscaped gardens surrounding it now serve the middle and easternmost side of the Coachella Valley. The 8,400-square-foot building features ongoing and temporary exhibitions of internationally important art in different media including sculpture, painting, photography, art glass, and architecture and design. The interior of the building houses four separate gallery areas for rotating exhibits. The building itself is architecturally significant in not only its modern design but also in the fact that it was the first new LEED Certified, SILVER rated building constructed in Southern California, a designation used to identify high performance “green” buildings.

Education programs for visitors of all ages accompany the exhibitions, with school tours, artist demonstrations, curatorial lectures, art films, community days, family events, and other learning programs. The education wing enhances the museum's capacity for creative partnerships with local organizations, schools and universities for after-school classes and intern/mentor programs. It also provides a space for social programs for area libraries and galleries.

Set in a lushly landscaped desert oasis of water features, native plants and winding walkways dotted with natural rock benches, the Palm Desert facility's sculpture garden houses the works of modern masters. The 250,000 square feet of sculpted, rolling landscape covered with native plantings, winding pathways, and water features are enhanced by the addition of major sculptures in both abstract and representational styles, creating the most important sculpture garden between Los Angeles and Phoenix.