Along with the endless stream of parties, special performances, artist and curator talks, and the chance to see thousands of artists and their works at once, another major perk of being in Miami during the week of Art Basel in Miami Beach is the chance to get a glimpse of some of the city’s major private collections. Not only do several offer free admission, you don’t necessarily have to be a VIP to get in.

Lucy Dodd at the Rubell Family Collection.

The Rubell Family Collection
Perhaps the best known of the prestigious Miami collections is that of the Rubell family. Don and Mera Rubell are among the most active contemporary art buyers today, and a fixture at the major New York and London auctions each season (see “The Top 10 Uber-Rich Collectors“). This year the art collecting duo celebrate 50 years of marriage and collecting contemporary art, as well as the 20th anniversary of the foundation they started with their son Jason. “On the occasion of these events, the Rubell Family Collection will mount its most ambitious exhibition program to date and publish a 700-page collection overview catalogue titled Highlights and Artists’ Writings, Volume 1.

The first floor of the Rubell foundation will feature six commissioned solo exhibitions by Will Boone, Aaron Curry, Lucy Dodd, Mark Flood, David Ostrowski, and Kaari Upson. The artists visited the space over the course of the last year and created new, large-scale bodies of work specifically for the exhibition.The second floor is the site of the new exhibition, “To Have and to Hold,” which occupies 20 galleries. It traces the chronology of the Rubells’ collecting activity since the late 1970s and will include work by Jean Michel-Basquiat, Mark Bradford, Cecily Brown, Marlene Dumas, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Reinhard Mucha, Elizabeth Peyton, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Rosemarie Trockel. Younger artists such as Josh Kline, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Michail Pirgelis and Lior Shvil are also exhibited along with text from the artists. Both shows open December 3.

Free public access: 95 NW 29th Street Miami rfc.museum

Installation view of the de la Cruz Collection with works by Christopher Wool, Mark Bradford, and Dan Colen.

The de la Cruz Collection
Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz opened their three-story, 30,000-square-foot space in Miami’s Design Disrict in 2009. The de la Cruz Contemporary Art Space is privately funded by the collectors and aimed at providing education in the visual arts. The exhibition “Beneath the Surface” opens Tuesday, December 2, and features a selection of artists who are “re-defining postwar movements,” as described by the space’s website. The show includes work by Tauba Auerbach, Hernan Bas, Walead Beshty, Peter Doig, Mark Grotjahn, Thomas Houseago, Jacob Kassay, and others.

Free public access: 23 NE 41st Street, Miami Design District delacruzcollection.org

Installation view of the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse.

The Margulies Collection
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse is a nonprofit organization housed in a 45,000 square-foot retro-fitted warehouse in the Wynwood Arts District. Seasonal exhibitions showcase works from the collection of founder Martin Z. Margulies. Among several current exhibitions on view now is one celebrating the 15th anniversary of the space. It includes work by John Chamberlain, Willem de Kooning, Olafur Eliasson, Donald Judd, Isamu Noguchi, and Michelangelo Pistoletto, among others.

Public access: 591 NW 27th Street, Wynwood, Miami; admission: $10 (a donation) for Lotus House Homeless Students, $5 for out-of-state students, and no charge for students in the state of Florida; margulieswarehouse.com

Miguel Amat, “Capitalismo y Vanguardia,” series (2006–2010) on view at the Fontanals-Cisneros Collection.
Photo: Oriol Tarridas.

The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection
The new show, titled “Impulse, Reason, Sense, Conflict.” opens Wednesday, December 3, at the CIFO Art Space and features abstract art from the Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, including works by Doug Aitken, Francis Alÿs, William Kentridge, Barbara Hepworth, and many more.

Free public access: 1018 North Miami Avenue, cifo.org

Go to artnet News’s Art Basel in Miami page for the latest coverage, including:

“10 Ridiculous But True Rules For Navigating Art Basel in Miami Beach”

“9 Art World Pick-Up Lines Guaranteed (NOT) To Work At Art Basel in Miami Beach”

“15 Art Basel in Miami Beach Parties You’ll Never Get Into”

“Art World Sexy, Powerful, and Intimidating List: People You Need to Network With in Miami“