Detroit Institute of Arts facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Detroit Institute of Arts

Established	1885; 140 years ago (1885)
Location	5200 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan
Type	Art museum
Collection size	65,000 works
Visitors	677,500 (2015)
Public transit access	QLINE: Warren / Ferry DDOT, SMART

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a famous art museum in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has one of the biggest and most important art collections in the United States. The museum is huge, covering over 650,000 square feet! It was made even bigger in 2007 with a major renovation. The DIA has a wide variety of art from all over the world and from different times, like ancient Egypt, Europe, and even modern art. Its art collection is worth billions of dollars. You can find the DIA in Detroit's Cultural Center, not far from downtown, right across from the Detroit Public Library.

The museum building is known for its beautiful design. The main building, designed by Paul Philippe Cret, is made of white marble. It has north and south wings on either side. The museum's first painting was given as a gift in 1883, and today its collection has over 65,000 artworks. In 2015, about 677,500 people visited the DIA, making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The Detroit Institute of Arts also hosts big art exhibitions. It has a large theater with 1,150 seats, a smaller hall for shows and talks, an art library, and a special lab to help preserve artworks.

In 2023, readers of USA Today voted the Detroit Institute of Arts the number one art museum in the United States!

Amazing Art Collections at the DIA

Original Dawson Howdy Doody, by Volkan Yuksel

The museum has 100 galleries filled with art from all over the world. One of the most famous artworks is Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry frescoes. These huge wall paintings cover the upper and lower levels around the museum's central marble court. The main entrance hall also displays a collection of armor that belonged to William Randolph Hearst.

The DIA's collection of American art is one of the best in the country. Many experts say its American paintings collection is the third best among U.S. museums. The museum started collecting works by American artists soon after it opened in 1883. Today, this collection shows a great overview of American history, with amazing paintings, sculptures, furniture, and decorative arts from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. They also collect modern American art.

Some of the famous American artists whose work you can see include John James Audubon, Mary Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frederic Remington, Paul Revere, John Singer Sargent, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Andy Warhol, and James McNeill Whistler.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Nut Gatherers, 1882

In the early 1900s, the museum collected many important pieces. These included a dragon tile relief from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, an Egyptian relief of Mourning Women, and a small statue of a Seated Scribe. They also acquired The Wedding Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Saint Jerome in His Study by Jan van Eyck, and Madonna and Child by Giovanni Bellini.

Early purchases also included French paintings by Claude Monet, Odilon Redon, Eugène Boudin, and Edgar Degas. They also bought works by Old Masters like Gerard ter Borch, Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, and Rembrandt van Rijn. The museum has several paintings by Vincent van Gogh, including a self-portrait. The self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh and The Window by Henri Matisse were bought in 1922. These were the first paintings by these two artists to be owned by an American public museum.

Other important artworks include Portrait of a Woman by Hans Holbein the Younger, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and works by Paul Cézanne, Eugène Delacroix, and Auguste Rodin. The DIA was also one of the first museums to collect German Expressionism, with works by artists like Franz Marc, Max Beckmann, and Emil Nolde. Non-German Expressionist artists include Oskar Kokoschka, Wassily Kandinsky, and Edvard Munch. The Nut Gatherers by William-Adolphe Bouguereau is often said to be the most popular painting in the collection.

Pablo Picasso, 1916, L'anis del mono (Bottle of Anis del Mono), oil on canvas, 46 x 54.6 cm

Besides American and European art, the DIA's collections are very broad. They include ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art, as well as a wide range of Islamic, African, and Asian art.

In 2010, the museum opened a new permanent gallery. It features special collections of hand, shadow, and string puppets. The museum plans to have puppet-related events and change the puppet exhibits regularly.

Exciting Exhibitions at the DIA

The main hall of the DIA leading to the Rivera Court

Atrium in new building

Hall between old and new sections

The DIA often hosts special exhibitions that bring unique art to Detroit. Here are some examples of past exhibitions:

• Artists' Take on Detroit: Projects for the Tricentennial (2001): This exhibit celebrated Detroit's 300th birthday. Fifteen artists created 10 projects that showed different parts of the city, using videos, photos, sounds, and sculptures.
• Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence (2002): This show featured the work of African American artist Jacob Lawrence. It included pieces from his famous Migration and John Brown series that had never been seen before.
• Degas and the Dance (2002–2003): This exhibit showcased over 100 works by Edgar Degas, focusing on his love for ballet. It included stage sets, costume designs, and photos of 19th-century Parisian dancers.
• Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo and The Art of Late Renaissance Florence (2003): This exhibit displayed art from the time of the Medici family in Florence, showing their connection with Michelangelo and his art.
• Then and Now: A selection of 19th- and 20th-Century Art by African American Artists (2003): This exhibit featured about 40 artworks by African American artists from the past two centuries. It included works by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Betye Saar, and Detroit artists like Shirley Woodson.
• Yoko Ono's Freight Train (2003–2005): This outdoor exhibit featured Freight Train, a German boxcar with bullet holes, created by Yoko Ono.
• Dawoud Bey: Detroit Portraits (2004): This exhibit showed large color photographs and a video of students from Chadsey High School, created by artist Dawoud Bey during his time in Detroit.
• The Photography of Charles Sheeler: American Modernist (2004): This exhibit displayed prints from Charles Sheeler's major photo series, including images of his home, Chartres Cathedral, and American industry, like the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge complex.
• Murano: Glass From the Olnick Spanu Collection (2004–2005): This exhibit displayed about 300 Venetian blown glass pieces from the 20th century, arranged in order of when they were made.
• Camille Claudel and Rodin: Fateful Encounter (2005–2006): This exhibit featured sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel, showing their artistic connection.
• Annie Leibovitz: American Music (2006–2007): This exhibit displayed Annie Leibovitz's photographs of music legends and younger artists, including B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Eminem, and Aretha Franklin.
• Ansel Adams (2007): This exhibit featured over 100 black and white photographs by Ansel Adams, showing landscapes, Pueblo Indians, and portraits of his friends.
• The Best of the Best: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs from the DIA Collection (2007–2008): The DIA chose over 100 of its "best" prints, drawings, and photographs from its collection of 35,000 pieces to display. This included a drawing by Michelangelo and a landscape by Edgar Degas.

The DIA Building: A Work of Art Itself

Detroit Institute of Arts

In the 1920s, a group was formed to choose an architect for a new museum building. This group included DIA President Ralph H. Booth and industrialist Edsel Ford. They chose Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret to design the main building.

The first stone for the new building was laid on June 26, 1923. The finished museum, designed in the Beaux-Arts and Italian Renaissance styles, opened on October 7, 1927.

In 1922, Horace Rackham gave the museum a copy of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture, The Thinker. It was first displayed inside the new museum building, but later moved outside to a pedestal in front of the building, facing Woodward Avenue.

The Gothic Chapel, as viewed in 1929

Later, in 1966 and 1971, south and north wings were added to the building. These wings were designed by Gunnar Birkerts. The south wing is named after Edsel and Eleanor Ford, and the north wing is named after Jerome Cavanaugh, a former Detroit Mayor.

The building also has a special 16th-century French Gothic chapel, which was a gift from Ralph H. Booth.

Famous Artworks Inside the Building

Diego Rivera, detail from one of the frescoes

Edsel Ford asked artist Diego Rivera to paint murals for the DIA in 1932. These huge wall paintings, called Detroit Industry, or Man and Machine, are painted in the fresco style. They were added to a large central courtyard, which was then covered with a roof. The Diego Rivera murals are considered amazing works of art and a special part of the museum.

The building also features beautiful iron work by Samuel Yellin, unique tiles from Pewabic Pottery, and sculptures by Leon Hermant.

Renovation and Expansion

In November 2007, the Detroit Institute of Arts building finished a big renovation and expansion project. It cost $158 million. The architects for this project included Michael Graves. The project added 58,000 square feet, making the museum a total of 658,000 square feet. The outside of the north and south wings were redone with white marble, just like the original building. This major renovation helped make the DIA even better for visitors.

History of the DIA

Detroit Institute of Arts

The idea for the museum started in 1881 when James E. Scripps, a local newspaper owner, traveled around Europe. He wrote about his trip, and his stories were so popular that a newspaper manager, William H. Brearley, decided to organize an art exhibit in 1883. This exhibit was also very successful.

Brearley convinced many important people in Detroit to help create a permanent museum. It was first called the Detroit Museum of Art. Many wealthy citizens, including James E. Scripps and Edsel Ford's father, helped donate money. By 1888, the Detroit Museum of Art was officially started, with over 70 artworks that Scripps had bought in Europe.

The old Detroit Museum of Art building opened in 1888. In 1919, the museum's board changed its name to the Detroit Institute of Arts. A new committee began raising money for a bigger, new location. The current DIA building on Woodward Avenue opened on October 7, 1927.

In 1919, the museum's ownership was given to the City of Detroit, which meant the city helped pay for its operations. The board of trustees became a private group called the Founder's Society, which raised extra money for new art and other needs. The museum hired a German art expert, Wilhelm Valentiner, as its director. Under his leadership, the DIA's collections grew a lot because the city was booming and wealthy people were donating money. The DIA was the first U.S. museum to buy a Vincent van Gogh and a Henri Matisse painting in 1922.

Valentiner also changed how art was displayed. Instead of grouping all paintings together or all sculptures together, he organized them by country and time period. This idea was so new and smart that the 1929 Encyclopædia Britannica used a picture of the DIA's main floor plan as an example of a perfect modern art museum.

The old Detroit Museum of Art stood at 704 E. Jefferson Ave. The building opened in 1888.

Many generous people from Detroit helped the museum, including Charles Lang Freer and families involved in the auto industry like the Fords. Robert Hudson Tannahill, from the Hudson's Department Store family, was a very important supporter. He gave many artworks during his life. When he passed away in 1970, he left a large collection of European art, including works by Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. He also left a big collection of African art and money for the museum to buy more art in the future.

In 1949, the museum was one of the first to return an artwork that had been stolen by the Nazis during World War II. They returned Claude Monet's The Seine at Asnières to its rightful owner. In 2002, the museum found out that another painting they were thinking of buying, A Man-O-War and Other Ships off the Dutch Coast by Ludolf Bakhuizen, had also been stolen by the Nazis. The museum contacted the original owners, paid them what was fair, and the family allowed the museum to keep the painting.

Master of the Osservanza Triptych, The Resurrection, c. 1445

As Detroit faced financial challenges in the 1970s and 80s, the city's ability to support the DIA decreased. The State of Michigan began to provide more and more funding. By 1990, 70 percent of the DIA's money came from the state. However, that year, the state cut funding significantly due to a recession. This caused the museum to close some galleries and reduce hours. A fundraising effort helped restore operations.

In 1998, the Founder's Society took over the management of the museum from the city, though the city still owned the building and the art.

In 2014, as part of Detroit's bankruptcy settlement, the ownership of the museum was officially transferred to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Inc. This made the museum an independent non-profit organization again, like it was before 1919.

In 2020, the DIA's current director, Salvador Salort-Pons, and the chairman of the board, Eugene Gargaro, shared that the museum's unique funding model, including local tax support, allowed them to keep all their staff during the pandemic. Many other museums had to lay off employees. This shows that the DIA is in a very strong financial position.

Leadership at the DIA

Directors of the Museum

The Detroit Institute of Arts has had many directors who have guided its growth and vision. Here are some of the people who have led the museum:

• John W. Dunsmore (1888-1891)
• Armand H. Griffith (1891-1913)
• Clyde Huntley Burroughs (1913-1924)
• Charles Moore (1914-1917)
• Wilhelm Valentiner (1924-1945)
• Edgar Preston Richardson (1945-1962)
• Willis F. Woods (1962-1973)
• Frederick J. Cummings (1973-1984)
• Samuel Sachs, II (1985-1997)
• Graham W. J. Beal (1999-2015)
• Salvador Salort-Pons (2015–Present)

The current director of the Detroit Institute of Arts is Salvador Salort-Pons. He was born in Madrid, Spain, and used to be in charge of the European Art Department at the DIA. Before coming to Detroit, he was a senior curator at the Meadows Museum and taught art history. Salort-Pons has a doctorate in art history and an MBA. He became director on September 16, 2015.

Some people have shared concerns about the museum's approach to diversity and inclusion under his leadership. However, many Detroit community leaders have praised Salort-Pons for his efforts to connect with the Black community and for his openness to learning about different cultures.

Supporting the DIA

The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of the largest and most important art museums in the United States. It relies on donations to help pay for its operations. The museum aims to have a large fund, called an endowment, to help it be financially independent.

In 2012, voters in three nearby counties (Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland) approved a special property tax for 10 years. This tax helps raise about $23 million each year, which has been very important for the museum. Because of this support, residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties get free general admission to the museum for the 10 years the tax is in effect.

The DIA's art collection is worth billions of dollars. When the City of Detroit faced bankruptcy in 2013, some people thought parts of the museum's collection might need to be sold to help pay off the city's debts. To prevent this, a plan called the grand bargain was created. Under this plan, the museum raised $100 million, private foundations promised $330 million, and the state of Michigan contributed $350 million. This money helped support city workers' pensions. In return, the city transferred its ownership of the art collection and the building to the non-profit organization that runs the museum. This plan was approved, and the DIA did not have to sell any of its art.

The museum is now in a very strong financial position, allowing it to continue its important work of sharing art with everyone.

Gallery

See also

In Spanish: Instituto de Artes de Detroit para niños

• Cranbrook Art Museum
• Edsel and Eleanor Ford House
• List of art museums
• List of largest art museums
• List of most visited art museums
• University of Michigan Museum of Art