Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

About this audio guide

This guide to the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden in New Orleans follows Sydney Besthoff, who built the K and B drugstore chain and spent his real energy collecting, first antique furniture, then photorealist paintings, and finally sculpture after commissioning kinetic artist George Rickey for his office plaza. You'll hear how that encounter with Rickey changed what Besthoff wanted from art, and how the plaza filled with dozens of major pieces over three decades. Listen for what made him start thinking about his children and a courtyard full of bronze and steel. The live oaks and lagoons around you were City Park's answer.