Asian Art Museum Shows a Nearly 20-Foot Bronze Vishnu From Angkor Starting October 23

A nearly 20-foot bronze Vishnu from Angkor goes on view at the Asian Art Museum on Friday, October 23. Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean runs through January 25, 2027 in the museum’s Osher Foundation Gallery and is included with general admission, according to the museum.

What’s on View

The exhibition is built around a single object: the Reclining Vishnu of West Mebon, an 11th-century bronze from a temple on an island in the West Baray reservoir at Angkor, Cambodia. The museum’s July 2 announcement describes it as the largest ancient bronze found in Southeast Asia, nearly 20 feet long when complete. The statue was buried for centuries and rediscovered in 1936. The museum says conservation and scientific study indicate it was originally gilded.

The bronze is on loan from the National Museum of Cambodia and was recently restored. Around it, maps, videos and interpretive displays cover Angkor, the myth of Vishnu reclining on the cosmic ocean, and the role of water and hydraulic engineering in Khmer society. The exhibition page lists an accompanying film by praCh Ly that follows a local fisherman and a young Buddhist monk at the reservoir today.

The museum calls this its first special exhibition devoted only to Cambodian art, and the final stop on an international tour. It was organized by the Asian Art Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art with the Guimet-National Museum of Asian Arts in France. Natasha Reichle, associate curator of Southeast Asian art, is the curator. The run overlaps with the Cambodian Water Festival season, and the museum says it plans public programs with community partners around it.

Visiting

Where: Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., across from Civic Center Plaza.

When: October 23, 2026 to January 25, 2027. Museum hours listed on its site are Thursday 1 to 8pm and Friday through Monday 10am to 5pm; the museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cost: Included with general admission. Tickets are at asianart.org/reserve-tickets. For free admission days, see our October free museum days guide.

Getting there: Civic Center BART and Muni Metro station is about a block away on Market Street.

Also at the Museum

Two other fall shows are running in the same building: Garuda in Bali, through January 4, 2027, and Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective, through January 25, 2027. More on the building is on our Asian Art Museum page.

Photo: Asian Art Museum.