Selections from the Modern European Art Collection
Galleries 389–399

In March of 1913, when many critics and patrons were still resistant to modern art, the Art Institute of Chicago established itself as an early champion of the avant-garde by opening its doors to the International Exhibition of Modern Art. Better known as the Armory Show, this landmark exhibition galvanized a group of notable Chicago art collectors to begin acquiring modern European art, establishing a foundation for the museum that has grown exponentially over the Art Institute’s history. The story of this collection is now chronicled in the Modern Wing’s spectacular third-floor galleries, which are devoted exclusively to modern European art.

Crowned by Renzo Piano’s ingenious “flying carpet,” a steel roof structure over skylights that illuminates the galleries with filtered natural light, the third-floor installation celebrates the depth and breadth of the collection and highlights many works that have recently been treated by conservation or reframed. The Art Institute’s entire modern European collection of paintings and sculptures has been reconsidered in the reinstallation, including several works that date to the original Armory Show and other landmark exhibitions in the history of the museum and the city. Highlights include the recently treated and reframed Bathers by a River by Henri Matisse, a new installation of sculptures by Constantin Brâncusi, and an inspired presentation of Surrealist objects by such artists as Man Ray, Claude Cahun, René Magritte, and Salvador Dalí. An elegant new grouping of works by Pablo Picasso also celebrates his inventive search for new media, techniques, and forms. Visitors will also find a dramatic space designed especially for the Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection that will highlight works on paper, paintings, and sculptures by such artists as Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Wifredo Lam, and the rich collection of fascinating box constructions by the artist Joseph Cornell. New acquisitions and recent gifts, as well as special loans to celebrate the inauguration of the Modern Wing, are also on view.

View more works from this collection.

_{Vasily Kandinsky. Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913. Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection.}