Downtown Chicago's #1 Museum | The Art Institute of Chicago

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Located in downtown Chicago, the Art Institute is one of the world’s great art museums, housing a collection that spans centuries and the globe.

Exhibitions

All current exhibitions

Events

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Talks
Virtual Talk: Silence and Solitude
Mar 10, 2021
2:00–2:45
Member Exclusive
Virtual Member Lecture: Cosmoscapes—Ink Paintings by Tai Xiangzhou
Mar 11, 2021
6:00–6:45
Talks
Virtual Intersections: Belonging and Desire
Mar 17, 2021
2:00–3:00
Talks
Virtual Lecture: The J. William Holland Memorial Lecture—Ancient Coins with Peter van Alfen
Mar 18, 2021
5:00–5:45

Videos

Maxresdefault 1 — Bisa Butler: Portraits | Exhibition Stories

Nightlife — Archibald John Motley Jr.’s Nightlife | Art Institute Essentials Tour

Cybele Titlecard — Finding meaning in a medieval reliquary | Cybele Tom | Playing Favorites

Buddha Shakyamuni Seated In Meditation — Buddha Shakyamuni | Art Institute Essentials Tour

Maxresdefault — Art that expresses the inner world | Costa Petridis | Playing Favorites

Joan Mitchell City Landscape Master — Joan Mitchell’s City Landscape | Art Institute Essentials Tour

Maxresdefault — Rembrandt and the desire for human connection | Sam Ramos | Playing Favorites

A carved and subtly colored wooden sculpture of a seated man wearing an elaborate headdress. A larger woman stands behind him and two much smaller figures at his feet. — Olowe of Ise’s Veranda Post | Art Institute Essentials Tour

Maxresdefault — Art you can’t hold in your hands | Jordan Carter | Playing Favorites

Van Gogh Bedroom — Vincent van Gogh’s The Bedroom | Art Institute Essentials Tour

Highlights

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Artists

A vibrant quilt depicting seven schoolchildren dressed in many different colors. The children stand together in a group, and one boy, a member of the Safety Patrol, stands in front with his arms outstretched in a protective gesture. — Bisa

Butler

Green water lilies with pink and purple flowers cover the surface of a reflective pond. A Japense-style wood bridge curves over the pond, and various other trees and forms of vegetation grow alongside the pond and over the bridge. Reflections of trees and plants mingle with the forms of the water lilies on the surface of the pond. — Claude

Monet

A shiny, burnished orange vessel with a pointed base that widens into a round shape, narrows into a narrow neck, and widens again into wide opening with a upward-facing rim. — Magdalene

Odundo

A photograph of a copper figure. It depicts a muscular, bearded male wearing a headdress of goat horns and ears, a raptor skin over his shoulders, a cylindrical belt around his trim waist, and ankle boots with long, curved toes. — Ancient Mesopotamian

Singh — Dayanita

Singh

Paalen — Wolfgang

Paalen

Painted portrait of a seated woman in a formal, dark blue dress with a large, round white collar, white lace cuffs, and a white lace headpiece. She has light skin, clutched a handkerchief in her left hand, and has her hair tucked up in the headpiece. — Frans

Hals

Drawing of an interior perspective of a building with a rounded roof and large, architectural forms inside. — Bruce Alonzo

Goff

Kezys — Algimantas

Kezys

A print of curving river at dusk or dawn with a boat on the left side with three figures. On the right side a tree leans over from a raised bank. — Utagawa Hiroshige

Blog

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A vibrant quilt depicting seven schoolchildren dressed in many different colors. The children stand together in a group, and one boy, a member of the Safety Patrol, stands in front with his arms outstretched in a protective gesture.

Inside the Exhibition
The Quilter’s Playlist

Artist Bisa Butler shares why it sometimes feels like “a song is being sewn into [her] quilts“ and details a few of the 30 songs that she and her husband chose to accompany works in her exhibition Bisa Butler: Portraits.

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