Smart Museum of Art

Smart Museum of Art The art museum of the University of Chicago. Always free. The Smart Museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. Admission is always free.
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As the fine arts museum of the University of Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art is a site for rigorous inquiry and exchange that encourages the examination of complex issues through the lens of art objects and artistic practice. Through strong scholarly and community collaborations and a welcoming approach to its exhibitions, collections, publications, research and teaching, and public programs, the

Smart Museum plays a dynamic role in expanding artistic canons, rethinking received histories, introducing new perspectives, and engaging diverse communities—locally, nationally, and internationally.

The exhibition "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart" partially draws on key exhibi...
06/01/2026

The exhibition "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart" partially draws on key exhibitions curated by Wu Hung at the Smart, including the above-pictured exhibition "Canceled: Exhibiting Experimental Art in China" in 2000.

"Canceled" was an unconventional exhibition. Its subject was not an artist or a group of art works, but another exhibition that was never realized: It's Me (Beijing, 1998), a group show curated by Leng Lin that was canceled by Chinese officials the day before its scheduled opening.

Through a striking installation developed by exhibition curator Wu Hung in close collaboration with visual artists Song D**g, documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang, and the Smart, Canceled guided the viewer into the milieu of contemporary Chinese artists, fostering the (re)discovery of this aborted show and calling attention to the implication of its cancellation. The project raised questions about artistic freedom, censorship, and the relationship between experimental art and society at large.

See artwork displayed first in "Canceled," on view now at the Smart as part of the exhibition "Beyond Boundaries," through July 5, 2026. Admission is always free.

"Beyond Boundaries" is organized in collaboration with the Center for the Art of East Asia (CAEA)

IMAGES: Installation views and archival brochure, "Canceled: Exhibiting Experimental Art in China," 2000. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago.

For those who follow astronomy viewings, the star Antares was visible next to the Full Blue Moon in parts of the world e...
05/31/2026

For those who follow astronomy viewings, the star Antares was visible next to the Full Blue Moon in parts of the world early this morning 🌟 Antares is visible all night around May 31 of each year, when the star is at opposition to the Sun. Antares then rises at dusk and sets at dawn as seen at the equator.

For those who weren't in viewing areas (like Chicago), come to the Smart and experience artist Alma Thomas's own take and interpretation of Antares.

This densely patterned monochromatic canvas conjures the intensely hot surface of the star Antares. One of the brightest and most massive stars in the galaxy, Antares earned its name—
meaning “rival of Mars” in Greek—due to its similar appearance to the red planet.

On view at the Smart through July 5. Admission is always free.

IMAGES:

[1] Alma Thomas, "Antares", 1972, acrylic on canvas, 65 3⁄4 x 56 1⁄2 in., (167.0 x 143.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.13

[2] 📸 : Jason Smith

A look back at this spring’s free programming at the Smart so far 🎨 From guided tours and performance, to conversations ...
05/29/2026

A look back at this spring’s free programming at the Smart so far 🎨 From guided tours and performance, to conversations on the cosmos 🪐 and contemporary Chinese art 🖼️, it’s been a joy to welcome new audiences to the Museum to engage with on-view exhibitions in new ways!

Up Next:

Family Day: Zooming in and Zine-ing Out
Saturday, June 13
10 am - 1 pm

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Friday Tour: “Composing Color”
Friday, June 26
1 - 2 pm

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Tuesdays Together
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Family Tours
Tuesday, June 16 | 10 am - 12 pm

Family Smart Find
Tuesday, June 23 | 10 am - 12 pm

Story time at the Smart
Tuesday, June 30 | 10 am - 12 pm

Scroll to see how UChicago students taking the class “The Science and Art of Vision” this spring semester, translated ar...
05/28/2026

Scroll to see how UChicago students taking the class “The Science and Art of Vision” this spring semester, translated art through a scientific discipline via weekly drawing assignments illustrating course concepts 👁️ 🎨

This past April, students from the class visited the Smart for close-looking of art in our collection to study visual techniques that reflect the operation of the human visual system.

We’d like to think their visit added additional inspiration for the above completed portfolio artwork, aided by analysis of work from the Smart’s collection, from artists such as Romare Bearden, Joseph E. Yoakum, Genieve Figgis, and more—a great example of museum as classroom, a core mission at the Museum 🖼️

Join us for a FREE GUIDED TOUR of the exhibition "Beyond Boundaries" on Friday, May 29 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm!Metcalf inter...
05/27/2026

Join us for a FREE GUIDED TOUR of the exhibition "Beyond Boundaries" on Friday, May 29 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm!

Metcalf intern and curatorial assistant Tianhe Chen & Smart Engagement Fellow Ian Brundige will lead a guided tour of "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart," now on view.

This program is free; RSVP is encouraged.

"Beyond Boundaries" is organized in collaboration with the Center for the Art of East Asia (CAEA)

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IMAGE: Installation views, "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart," 2026. Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago. Photo by Michael Tropea.

UChicago Students: Join us this THURSDAY for free pizza, snacks, and beverages among Theaster Gates's art installation i...
05/27/2026

UChicago Students: Join us this THURSDAY for free pizza, snacks, and beverages among Theaster Gates's art installation in the Smart's lobby. Prep for Spring Quarter finals at an art museum after hours ✏️ 🎨

Study at the Smart
Thursday, May 29th
4-7 pm
FREE at the Smart Museum of Art

A closer look at Zhuang Hui's "Longitude 109.88 Latitude 31.09," now on view in "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Con...
05/24/2026

A closer look at Zhuang Hui's "Longitude 109.88 Latitude 31.09," now on view in "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart."

In 1995, Zhuang Hui traveled to the Yangtze River to create a work in an area soon to be flooded for the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project. Zhuang dug over one hundred holes at three sites of historical significance, documenting them in a series of photographs. A modest gesture, Zhuang’s actions mark the artist’s on-site engagement with the land just before its disappearance beneath the flood zone. Over a decade later, he instructed a cameraman to return to the site to capture the giant reservoir of water, which betrayed no evidence of Zhuang’s intervention. These photographs remain as the only traces of a vanished landscape. The gaping holes suggest a sense of unspeakable loss within the long duration of geological time.

—Nancy P. Lin, assistant professor, Cornell University

This work is on view through July 5, 2026 at the the Smart Museum of Art. Admission is always free.

"Beyond Boundaries" is organized in collaboration with the Center for the Art of East Asia (CAEA).

🎨 Artwork in photo:
Zhuang Hui, "Longitude 109.88 Latitude 31.09," 1995-2008, archival inkjet prints, single-channel videos. On loan from Wu Hung.

📸 : Installation views by Michael Tropea.

Alma? For spring? Groundbreaking 🌷 Our staff dressed as their favorite Alma paintings at the Smart this week!Struck by s...
05/23/2026

Alma? For spring? Groundbreaking 🌷 Our staff dressed as their favorite Alma paintings at the Smart this week!

Struck by some monochrome outfit inspo in the style of Alma Thomas? Be a part of the art and colorful world of the artist at “Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas” now on view at the Smart, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Bring your color through July 5th 🎨 Tues - Sun 10 AM -4:30 PM

Within the galleries of "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas" from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, create you...
05/21/2026

Within the galleries of "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas" from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, create your own Alma Thomas! In an interactive portion of the exhibition, sit, listen, and imagine the world through Alma Thomas’s eyes.

Using the magnetic tiles on the table, create your own—or add to someone else’s—colorful composition 🎨

Admission is always free at the Smart Museum of Art. Open through July 5, 2026, Tues - Sun 10 AM - 4:30 PM.

📸 : Jason Smith

From all of us at the Smart: Happy International Museum Day! 🖼️ We wouldn’t be able to bring free exhibitions, education...
05/18/2026

From all of us at the Smart: Happy International Museum Day! 🖼️

We wouldn’t be able to bring free exhibitions, education, and programming without our staff (or all of you, who choose to visit University of Chicago’s art museum all throughout the year!)

Consider visiting, donating, or thanking staff of a museum today ❣️

Address

5550 S Greenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL
60637

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 4:30pm
Thursday 10am - 4:30pm
Friday 10am - 4:30pm
Saturday 10am - 4:30pm
Sunday 10am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+17737020200

Website

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