Tour Reuben Hale’s Home & Sculpture Garden

Originally from Mississippi, Reuben Aldridge Hale, Jr. (1927-2018) was a versatile artist whose work was exceptionally broad in scope, from portraiture, figurative, abstract, optical and more. Much of his later work explored his enduring fascination with the changing role of women in the 20th Century, capturing their strength, resilience, and inherent beauty. After high school and then serving in World War II, he attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he developed a strong background in classical art. He later went on to study abstract expressionist painting with Hans Hofmann and Paul Burlin, and sculpture with David Slivka and Reuben Nakian. Hale earned his Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University, and in 1961 accepted a position as an art instructor at Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College), where he went on to serve as the college’s Chairman of Fine Arts and later Chairman of Humanities. 

“He never stopped making art,” daughter Irma Hale often says, as is evident by the art-filled family home where the artist lived for his last 49 years. After Hale’s passing in 2018, she co-founded a nonprofit, The Artwork of Reuben Hale, Inc. in 2019, to share and celebrate Reuben Hale’s legacy as an artist, educator and civic leader. Towards that end they have begun offering private docent-led tours of the home, artwork and sculpture garden by appointment. “The home,” she says, “is as much a piece of art as anything else he did.”

Call (561) 833-6522 or email artwork@reubenhale.com to schedule a tour. Admission is $25 per person, payable at the door (via check, cash, credit card or PayPal).

Located in the historic El Cid neighborhood of West Palm Beach, tours begin on the front porch at 2715 S Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach FL, 33405, and typically take 1.5 hours.

Reuben Hale’s home is in a residential neighborhood. Please park in the driveway if there is space to park not blocking the sidewalk. Alternately there is often parking on a side street such as Almeria Rd (between S Dixie Hwy and S Olive Ave) or Belmonte Rd (between S Olive Ave and S Flagler Dr).