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While well known for our exceptional and wide-ranging collection of Japanese prints, the museum’s holdings of Japanese art also include significant works of Buddhist art, painted folding screens, ceramics, and kimono. What becomes clear when surveying these diverse works—which range from ancient to contemporary—is that Japanese art is very much a living tradition. Check out these highlights of the collection.

Driven by her long-standing interest in architecture, Barbara Kruger’s work is always contextual—informed by the specific site and moment of its presentation while also adapting to and experimenting with new technologies.

Every year we grow our collection with works that expand and deepen the stories we tell and the perspectives we share—across geographies, periods and cultures. Enjoy a few highlights of this past year’s additions.

The ancient Mediterranean, and Greece in particular, was home to a great variety of artistic communities. Over 3,000 years ago, these makers used natural resources like stone, clay, and metals to create new forms, styles, and techniques that remain iconic to this day. Explore a few highlights from the Art Institute’s collection of ancient Greek art here.

From Cezanne’s time to ours, his work has been admired, debated, and oftentimes collected by fellow artists. This tour highlights works by artists—from Cezanne’s Impressionist contemporaries to artists working today ­who have looked to him as an inspiration and a critical touchstone for their own work. 

Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander American (A/AAPI) artists continue to push the contemporary art landscape across a variety of media—architecture, design, installation art, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles. 

Spanning five thousand years, the Art Institute’s collection includes the major artistic traditions as well as the contemporary arts of China.

As we welcome the season of gratitude and awe, we hope you’ll make the Art Institute a part of your holiday memories.

It’s easy to have a first reaction to a work of art. But what is revealed when we ask ourselves not only what we find beautiful or ugly, but also where those ideas come from?

The Language of Beauty in African Art includes over 250 objects from the continent across millennia—but how have contemporary artists in particular responded to those objects and traditions?

This past year, a tremendous variety of new objects joined the Art Institute’s holdings, each with its own unique story. Here’s a look at some of the notable works acquired in 2022 that enable us to share a more expansive history of art.

Have some of our most popular works resonated with you? Would you like to explore further? If so, our curators are happy to suggest some lesser known works they think you might like.

Between 1882 and 1890 Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Emile Bernard, and Charles Angrand explored the landscape along the river Seine northwest of Paris.

The exhibition Van Gogh and the Avant Garde: The Modern Landscape shows how Van Gogh and his contemporaries were drawn to the river Seine.

Latin America spans two continents and comprises a multitude of cultures, while its arts span millennia and represent a world of artistic styles.

In celebration of our longtime partner the Chicago Public Library and their 150 years of extraordinary service, we had eight museum staff members highlight artworks in the collection that tell unique stories about the people, culture, and artists of our city. We invite you to join this self-guided tour and experience these story-filled works in the museum—maybe it’s an occasion to create your own Chicago stories. 

The artist Camille Claudel devoted her short but remarkable career to sculpting the human figure.

Throughout his career Picasso was a great student of art, borrowing liberally the forms and ideas he admired in works from various cultures and periods.

Explore the ways LGBTQ+ artists have expressed gender, sexuality, and identity in the vast world of queer culture.

Hundreds of artworks entered the museum’s collection last year, each one broadening and deepening the stories we can share. Get to know some of our most notable new works below.