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From the Conservation Studio
Bugs, Seeds, and Surprising Conservation Needs

Our world-class conservators find solutions to problems and answers to questions in unexpected places.

Old gallery in the Art Institute complete with bench and potted plants

Museum History
125 Years on Michigan Ave, Part 3: Filling the Walls and Halls—The Collectors

It all starts with collectors and their collections.

Black-and-white photograph shows an assortment of three paintings in a room, one hung on the wall, one on the floor, and one on a small table at right.

Inside the Exhibition
The First City: Chicago Collectors and Monet

Collectors in Chicago, along with the Art Institute, were early champions of radically new artwork by a French artist named Claude Monet.

A painting heavy in blue and green hues of a cluster of light-skinned nude figures lying, sitting, and standing together outdoors with the suggestion of white fabric either being pulled on or taken off.

Inside the Exhibition
Paul Cezanne: The Artist’s Artist

Cezanne’s sensation-driven yet meticulous approach to painting largely defies theoretical explanation, and his works have long fascinated artists in particular.

A painting in cool neutrals and warm beige of pedestrians on a large, industrial bridge, its criss-crossed metal beams spanning the canvas dramatically. At right, a man in a cap leans against the railing, absorbed in thought, peering down below with his face cupped in his hand. At left, a finely dressed couple—the man in a top hat, the woman carrying a parasol—walk across the bridge and toward the viewer. Beyond them are Paris streets and buildings, slightly hazy.

Inside the Exhibition
Gustave Caillebotte: A Man of Many Hats

A collector, gardener, sportsman, and more, the multifaceted Impressionist explored a wide variety of personal and professional pursuits in his life and in his art.

G33045 Press (300ppi, 3000px, sRGB, JPEG)

Provenance Stories
Looted and Restituted: Matisse, Paul Rosenberg, and the Art Institute of Chicago

Follow the journey of Matisse’s painting Daisies from its theft by the Nazis to its permanent home in the Art Institute’s collection.

Collection Spotlight
Tiny Dancers

From the Conservation Lab
Art Scene Investigation: See What’s Cooking Behind the Scenes at the Art Institute

19253054 Hour Of The Dragon Tatsu No Koku From The

Perspectives
Projecting Fictions: Women in Art

The author explores how women depicted in works of art can seem both vividly present and hauntingly absent.

From the Curator
Fernand Lungren, Illuminated: In the Café and the City of Lights

Curator Annelise K. Madsen sheds lights on an American artist who captured the spirit of a changing Paris.

The Digital Museum
Get More at Home with Our Interactive Catalogues

These digital catalogues are designed for anyone who wants to take a closer look at our collection from anywhere in the world.

Painting of two haystacks in a field. Soft light falls on the triangular stacks, casting blueish shadows across the light-dappled pink, blue, and green fields.

Inside the Exhibition
Bertha Palmer and Sara Hallowell: Bringing Monet to Chicago

An art collector and her expert advisor—early admirers of Monet’s luminous paintings—made the city a destination for Impressionist art.

From the Curator
Caillebotte and Seurat: Setting the Stage for Masterworks

Curator Gloria Groom reveals how the two artists prepared the stage for their cast of Parisian models.

Perspectives
A View from Below, Part Three

The Digital Museum
Public Access to Our Public Presence: Sharing Our API

Our API is not only an integral part of our website and a means of creative problem-solving—it holds the most comprehensive amount of data made public by any museum in the field.

Black print on cream-colored paper of a skeletal dog, ribs and other bones laid bare while some portions remain opaque. The lower-left portion of the image has been torn off entirely, as has the upper-right corner.

From the Conservation Lab
Hidden Care: Four Stories of Patience and Repair

The conservation of works of art happens behind the scenes and at its best is something you don’t even notice.

From the Conservation Studio
The Cycle of Destruction and Repair: Conserving a Thanjavur Painting

After undergoing extensive as well as inventive conservation, this beautiful rendering of Shiva Nataraja and his attendants is now ready for public view.

Conservator Rachel Sabino works on one of the 46 panels that make up the Hartwell Memorial Window. She is seen from above and the panel is lit from beneath.

A New Icon
Breaking Ground for a Landscape in Light

Made over 100 years ago at Tiffany Studios, the Hartwell Memorial Window is an unprecedented and highly collaborative installation.

From the Conservation Studio
Water, Lasers, and Wax: Conserving the Art Institute Lions

The conservation of artworks that brave the elements, like our beloved lions, requires specialized skill, years of experience, and a studio filled with cool tools.

Photograph of a tabletop upon which rests a small woven artwork in progress made of strips of vibrant cloth. One hand pulls the center strip through threads wound around a cardboard base.

Top 10
Art-Inspired Activities for Spring

Looking for something new to do, see, or make on your next visit? This handy guide has you covered.

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