DENVER — Mirada Fine Art Gallery, which first opened in Indian Hills before relocating to downtown Denver in 2020, announced they will be closing its doors by the end of the year.
For the past 16 years, Mirada Fine Art Gallery has been a rather popular spot in Denver’s art scene. They won many awards in Colorado including American Arts Awards for Top Galleries in the United States for 2022, 2023 and 2024.
“Mirada is a gallery that features contemporary art from across North America,” said owner Steve Sonnen. “We feature a number of Colorado artists, but in addition to that, we have artists from Canada and Mexico and pretty much all of North America.”
Sonnen called the decision to close “bittersweet,” noting that Mirada has always been a family-run operation. His sister, Jan Thompson, manages the gallery, and his wife handles bookkeeping. He said protecting the gallery’s atmosphere and its reputation played a major role in his decision not to sell.
“We’ve built this very distinctive look and feel,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a part of me, and a part of my sister and my wife. If you just sold it, you lose all control over what happens with the gallery. And it would really break my heart to see it go in a totally different direction.”
Sonnen said the plan to close has been in motion for years. When he moved Mirada downtown, he intentionally signed a five-year lease timed to end with his retirement.
“We always had planned to go out at this time, and so it’s nice to be able to go out on our own terms,” he said.
The gallery will remain open through December 28, 2025. For the first time in its history, Mirada is offering rotating closeout sales featuring different artists each week.
“In the 16 years we’ve been in business, we’ve never done a sale,” Sonnen said. “But this is sort of an unusual situation.”
Sonnen and his wife plan to spend part of their retirement in the home they built in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. That is the place they fell in love with after honeymooning there decades ago. Still, he said leaving Mirada behind will bring its own mix of emotions.
“When we started the closeout sale, I don’t think it really kicked in until then,” he said. “We had so many clients call or email to say they were sad we were going out of business. It’s going to be weird not being surrounded by this artwork and these amazing clients and artists, but I’m excited about the next chapter.”
Sonnen said Mirada’s success belongs as much to its artists and supporters as it does to his family.
“My goodbye message to both our artists and our clients would be that it was all them that did this,” he said. “We really appreciate their business and them supporting us. I think people got something out of the gallery, but we definitely got a lot back from them.”
Mirada Fine Art Gallery will continue its regular hours and events throughout the year as it prepares for its final day of operation.
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