Art Institute of Chicago facts for kids

This page is about the art museum. For its art school, see School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Quick facts for kids
Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago seen from Michigan Avenue
Established	1879; in present location since 1893
Location	111 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60603, U.S.
Collection size	300,000 works
Visitors	1.04 million (2022)
Public transit access	CTA Bus routes: (6 and 28 line) 'L' and Subway stations: Adams-Wabash: Brown Line Green Line Orange Line Pink Line Purple Line Express Monroe/State: Red Line Monroe/Dearborn: Blue Line Metra Train: Van Buren Street Station

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. It was founded in 1879. You can find it in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park.

The museum has a huge collection of art. Some famous pieces include A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, and American Gothic by Grant Wood. There are almost 300,000 artworks in its permanent collection. Plus, the museum hosts over 30 special art shows each year.

The Art Institute is also a research center. It has departments that work on keeping artworks safe and studying them. It also has the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries, which are some of the biggest art history and architecture libraries in the country.

The museum's main building was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a big world's fair. Since then, the museum has grown a lot. The newest part, called the Modern Wing, opened in 2009. It was designed by a famous architect named Renzo Piano. This addition made the Art Institute the second-largest art museum in the U.S.

The Art Institute is connected to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This is a top art school. This connection makes it one of the few places in the U.S. that combines a major art museum and a leading art school.

History

How the Museum Started

An 1893 sketch of the new Art Institute of Chicago building. You can see how much of Grant Park was still under Lake Michigan back then.

In 1866, a group of 35 artists started the Chicago Academy of Design. They wanted to create a free art school with its own art gallery. The school began holding classes in 1868.

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the academy's building. This caused the school to go into debt. After trying to continue in rented spaces, some members left in 1879. They started a new group called the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. This new group then bought the old academy's assets.

In 1882, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts changed its name to the Art Institute of Chicago. Charles L. Hutchinson, a banker and generous supporter, became its first president. He helped turn the Art Institute into a world-class museum. In 1887, the museum opened new facilities on Michigan Avenue.

Moving to a New Home

When Chicago was chosen to host the World's Columbian Exposition in 1892–93, the Art Institute asked for a new building. They wanted a building on the lakefront that they could use after the fair. The city agreed, and the building was finished in time for the fair's second year. On October 31, 1893, the Art Institute moved into its new home.

The 20th and 21st Centuries

In the early 1980s, James N. Wood became the museum's director. He helped the museum get many new artworks. He also oversaw big renovation and expansion projects. He organized popular exhibitions of art by Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh.

In 2009, the Art Institute opened "The Modern Wing." This was the biggest expansion in the museum's history. The new building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. It added a lot of space for the museum's collections of 20th and 21st century art. This includes modern European paintings, contemporary art, architecture, design, and photography. In 2014, a travel website called Tripadvisor named the Art Institute the world's best museum!

In 2015, the museum received a huge gift of art. Collectors Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson donated a collection of important Pop art. This included works by famous artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The museum agreed to keep these artworks on display for at least 50 years. In 2018, the museum received its largest single money donation ever, $50 million.

Collection

The Art Institute of Chicago's collection covers more than 5,000 years of human creativity. It has over 300,000 artworks from cultures all around the world. These works are organized into 11 different departments. The museum is especially known for having one of the best collections of Western paintings in the United States.

African Art and Indian Art of the Americas

The museum's African Art and Indian Art of the Americas collections are in two galleries. The African collection has over 400 pieces from across the continent. These include ceramics, clothing, masks, and jewelry.

The Amerindian collection features art from Native North America, Mesoamerican (like ancient Mexico), and Andean (like ancient Peru) cultures. This collection includes pottery and textiles. It shows the different styles and ideas in art from across the Americas.

American Art

Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath, 1891–92

Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 1942

The American Art collection at the Art Institute has some very famous artworks. These include Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, Grant Wood's American Gothic, and Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath. The collection shows American art from colonial times to modern and contemporary paintings.

Nighthawks is one of Hopper's most famous paintings. It is seen as an "icon of American culture." American Gothic has been at the museum since 1930. It shows a serious-looking father and daughter from rural America.

Ancient and Byzantine Art

The museum's ancient collection covers almost 4,000 years of art and history. It displays sculptures, mosaics, pottery, jewelry, and more from ancient Greece, Etruria, Rome, and Egypt. There are about 5,000 works in this collection. It also has a real mummy and mummy case of a person named Paankhenamun.

Architecture and Design

The Department of Architecture and Design has over 140,000 items. These include models and drawings from the 1870s to today. The collection covers landscape architecture, structural engineering, and industrial design. It features works by famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Asian Art

The Art Institute's Asian collection spans nearly 5,000 years. It includes important works from China, Korea, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and the Near and Middle East. There are 35,000 objects in this collection. You can see bronzes, ceramics, jade, textiles, and woodcuts. One gallery is designed to feel calm and quiet, like how Japanese screens are traditionally viewed.

European Decorative Arts

Boulle work from the 18th century

The European decorative arts collection has about 25,000 objects. These include furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass, and ivory from 1100 AD to today. This department also has the Arthur Rubloff Paperweight Collection with 1,544 paperweights. Another special part is the 68 Thorne Miniature Rooms. These are tiny rooms, built at a 1:12 scale, that show different architectural and furniture styles from the Middle Ages to the 1930s. Both the paperweights and the Thorne Rooms are on the museum's ground floor.

European Painting and Sculptures

Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886

The museum is very famous for its collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. Many people say it's one of the best collections outside of France. Highlights include over 30 paintings by Claude Monet, like some of his Haystacks and Water Lilies. You can also see important works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, such as Two Sisters (On the Terrace), and Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day.

Famous Post-Impressionist works include Paul Cézanne's The Basket of Apples. The amazing pointillist painting, Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte—1884 by Georges Seurat, is also a major highlight. It was even featured in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Other important paintings include Henri Matisse's Bathers by a River and Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles and a Self-portrait.

The collection also has Medieval and Renaissance art, including a collection of arms and armor. There are also works by "Old Masters" from three centuries.

Modern and Contemporary Art

Picasso's The Old Guitarist, 1903

The museum's collection of modern and contemporary art grew a lot in 2015. That's when collectors Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson gave over 40 important artworks to the museum. Highlights in the modern galleries include Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, Henri Matisse's Bathers by a River, and René Magritte's Time Transfixed. The contemporary art section has works by Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Jackson Pollock, and other important artists.

Photography

The Art Institute officially started its photography collection in 1949. This happened when Georgia O'Keeffe donated a large part of the Alfred Stieglitz collection to the museum. Since then, the museum's collection has grown to about 20,000 photographs. They cover the history of photography from its beginning in 1839 to today.

Prints and Drawings

The print and drawings collection started in 1887 with a gift of 460 works. It became its own department in 1911. Now, it has 11,500 drawings and 60,000 prints. These range from 15th-century works to contemporary pieces. The collection has many works by famous artists like Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Francisco Goya. Because works on paper are sensitive to light, they are not always on display. This helps keep them in good condition for a long time.

Textiles

The Department of Textiles has more than 13,000 textiles and 66,000 sample swatches. These come from many different cultures, from 300 BC to today. The collection includes English needlework, Japanese clothing, and American quilts. It shows a wide variety of objects, including modern fiber art.

Architecture

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893

The Michigan Avenue facade in 2011

A 1907 postcard of the Art Institute

The Art Institute's current building is its third home. It is located in Grant Park. The building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style. It was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The plan was for the Art Institute to use the building after the fair ended.

The main entrance on Michigan Avenue is guarded by two bronze lion statues. These lions were put in place on May 10, 1894. Each one weighs more than two tons! When a Chicago sports team is playing in a championship, the lions are often dressed in that team's uniform. During Christmas, they wear evergreen wreaths around their necks.

The east entrance of the museum has a stone arch from the old Chicago Stock Exchange. This arch was designed by Louis Sullivan in 1894. The original building was taken down in 1972, but parts of it were saved and rebuilt at the Art Institute.

The Art Institute building is special because it sits over open-air railroad tracks. Two floors of galleries connect the east and west parts of the building. The Metra Electric and South Shore trains run underneath.

Libraries

The Burnham Library, founded in 1912

The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are located on the ground floor of the museum. These libraries have collections that cover all periods of art. They are especially known for their large collection of architecture books and documents from the 18th to 20th centuries. The libraries are open to museum staff, students, and the public.

Modern Wing

Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing

On May 16, 2009, the Art Institute opened the Modern Wing. This was the biggest expansion in the museum's history. The new part of the museum was designed by Renzo Piano. It made the Art Institute the second-largest museum in the U.S.

The Modern Wing is home to the museum's collection of early 20th-century European art. This includes Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist and Henri Matisse's Bathers by a River. It also has contemporary art from after 1960, new photography, video art, and architecture and design galleries. There are also spaces for temporary exhibitions, shops, classrooms, and a cafe and restaurant. The Nichols Bridgeway connects a sculpture garden on the roof of the new wing to the nearby Millennium Park.

Selections from the permanent collection

The Art Institute has many other amazing artworks in its collection. Here are some examples of works that are available to view. In 2018, the Art Institute made images of over 52,000 of its public domain artworks available for free use.

Paintings

Martorell, Saint George Killing the Dragon, c. 1434/35
El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar, c. 1597–1600
Rembrandt, Old Man with a Gold Chain, c. 1631
Antoine Watteau, Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering), 1718–1721
Eugène Delacroix, The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan, 1826
John Simpson, The Captive Slave, 1827
Édouard Manet, Seascape Calm Weather, 1864–1865
Édouard Manet, Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers, 1864–1865
Édouard Manet, The Philosopher, (Beggar with Oysters), 1864–1867
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix, c. 1871–1872
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1876–1877
Claude Monet, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, By the Water, 1880
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881
Jules Breton, The Song of the Lark, 1884
Paul Cézanne, The Bay of Marseilles, view from L'Estaque, 1885
Edgar Degas, The Millinery Shop, 1885
Georges-Pierre Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 1884–1886
Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1887
Vincent van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles, 1888
Claude Monet, Wheatstacks (End of Summer), 1890–1891
Paul Cézanne, The Basket of Apples, c.1890s
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892
Paul Gauguin, Why are you angry? (No te aha oe Riri), 1896
Winslow Homer, After the Hurricane, 1899
Odilon Redon, Sita, 1903
Pablo Picasso, 1904, Woman with a Helmet of Hair, gouache on tan wood pulp board
Edgar Degas, Woman at Her Toilette, c. 1900–1905
Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1906
Pablo Picasso, 1909, Head of a Woman (Tête de femme)
Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912
Jean Metzinger, 1913, La Femme à l'Éventail (Woman with a Fan)
Wassily Kandinsky, 1912, Landscape With Two Poplars
Kazimir Malevich, Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension, 1915
Amedeo Modigliani, Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, 1916
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930

Sculptures

A Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), tomb sculpture of a pixiu (or chimera) creature
Saraswati playing an alapini vina, Bangladesh, Pala period 10th–12th century CE
Aztec, Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II (Stone of the Five Suns) 1503
Auguste Rodin, Adam (1881) cast in bronze 1924
Edward Kemeys, Lions, 1893
Richard Hunt, Hero Construction, 1958
Alexander Calder, Flying Dragon, 1975

More highlights from the collection

Ancient Greek Amphora depicts Herakles killing the Nemean Lion, with Iolaus and Nemea on the left and Athena and Hermes on the right. 550–525 BC.
Illuminated Manuscript page from a Book of Hours, c. 1440/45
Pieces from the porcelain collection in the Art Institute of Chicago
The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Under the Wave off Kanagawa) Japanese woodblock print by Hokusai, c. 1830 (this is one of three held by the museum)
Sideboard and Wine Cabinet, 1859, designed by William Burges
One of the Thorne Miniature Rooms, ´Salon Louis XVI´ c. 1930s

Governance

Visitors to the Museum

In 2009, about 2 million people visited the Art Institute. This was a big increase from the year before. The Modern Wing helped bring in many more visitors. In 2022, the museum welcomed 1.04 million visitors. It was the tenth most-visited museum in the United States and the sixth most-visited art museum.

How the Museum is Funded

Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Avenue

The museum raises money to support its operations and buy new art. The 2009 expansion, the Modern Wing, cost $294 million. Most of this money was raised from private supporters in Chicago. In 2011, the museum received a $10 million gift to improve its galleries for Greek, Roman, and Byzantine art. This gift also helps the museum buy new artworks and host special exhibitions.

Sometimes, museums sell some of their artworks to buy new ones. The Art Institute has done this a few times to get important new pieces for its collection.

Directors

William M.R. French (1885–1914)
Newton Carpenter (1914–1916)
George Eggers (1918–1921)
Robert Harshe (1921–1938)
Daniel Catton Rich (1938–1958)
Allen McNab (1956–1965)
Charles Cunningham (1965–1972)
E. Laurence Chalmers (1972–1986)
James N. Wood (1980–2004)
James Cuno (2004–2011)
Douglas Druick (2011–2016)
James Rondeau (2016–present)