The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago Interested in becoming a member? (312) 499-4111 The Art Institute of Chicago shares its singular collections with our city and the world.

We collect, care for, and interpret works of art across time, cultures, geographies, and identities, centering the vision of artists and makers.

Make the most of your long weekend at the museum!Explore iconic works from our collection or discover something new from...
09/04/2026

Make the most of your long weekend at the museum!

Explore iconic works from our collection or discover something new from our many exhibitions:

• "Willem de Kooning Drawing"
• "Lee Miller: Fearless"
• "Beyond Form: Abstraction at Midcentury"
• "Self, Made: Fourteen Modern Artists from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection"
• "Embroidered Traditions from Morocco to Afghanistan"
• "Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism" - Opens Sep 6.
• and more!

Buy tickets at artic.edu

Images:

Installation view. Willem de Kooning Drawing," 2026. The Art Institute of Chicago.

George Hoyningen-Huene. "Lee Miller in Leisure Wear," 1930. Lee Miller Archives
© George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives.

Frank Stella. "Double Concentric Squares," n.d. The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Mr. Joseph Schwartz, Mr. M. A. Lipschultz, and Dr. and Mrs. Jerome Forman. © 2018 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Yayoi Kusama. "Sun Spot," 1953. Gift of the Irving Stenn Jr. Drawings Collection in memory of Marcia Stenn.

Uzbekistan. "Chapan (Man's coat), late 19th or early 20th century. The Art Institute of Chicago, Louise A. Lutz Endowment Fund.

Mary Cassatt. "Feeding the Ducks," about 1895. The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Laura May Ripley.

Hans Thoma was a leading Northern European figure in the shift from Realism and history painting to art inspired by clas...
09/03/2026

Hans Thoma was a leading Northern European figure in the shift from Realism and history painting to art inspired by classical myths and legends. Taken from Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses, Thoma showed the satyr Marsyas challenging Apollo, the master of the lyre, to a musical contest.

Although he avoided depicting the cruel outcome of the match (the satyr lost and was flayed alive by Apollo), the artist’s treatment of Apollo, whose idealized body and luminous skin set him apart from the shadowy halftones of his challenger, hints at the winner.

See "Apollo and Marsyas" on view in Gallery 245. https://bit.ly/4x1pKi9

Image:

Hans Thoma. "Apollo and Marsyas," 1888. Through the prior gift of Henry Morgen, Ann G. Morgen, Meyer Wasser, and Ruth G. Wasser.

Lee Godie, an artist who took up art full-time at age 60, was .Godie pursued a hyperlocal Chicago career; from 1968 unt...
09/01/2026

Lee Godie, an artist who took up art full-time at age 60, was .

Godie pursued a hyperlocal Chicago career; from 1968 until the late 1980s, she lived and worked entirely within a one-and-a-half-square-mile area between the Art Institute and the Drake Hotel.

Godie changed her birth name to a professional pseudonym; refused to acknowledge prior family connections; dressed in character; and frequently drew, photographed, or painted herself as a star or icon, drawing inspiration from on-screen celebrities such as Joan Crawford and Katharine Hepburn.

Despite selling her art well and regularly enough to afford conventional housing, she chose to live outdoors and was often found selling her paintings to customers on the steps of this museum.

See Lee Godie's work now on view in our exhibition, "Self, Made: Fourteen Modern Artists from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection." https://bit.ly/3SniIWj

Images:

Lee Godie. "Lee and Cameo on a Chair, Sincerely Lee Godie," 1970s. Gift of Richard and Ellen Sandor.
© The Art Institute of Chicago.

Lee Godie. "This is a News Front Page Picture / 5 on Times Chicago / Box a Few More / Rent for a Week / a Place / Wat You Don’t Want / Sell or Leave Be- / hind Camera Today," 1970s. Gift of Richard and Ellen Sandor.

Lee Godie. "A Pretty Girl is Like a Pretty Tune," 1978. Gift of Richard and Ellen Sandor.

This type of female torso—which depicts Venus (the Greek Aphrodite) wearing a sheer garment—was frequently used in the R...
08/31/2026

This type of female torso—which depicts Venus (the Greek Aphrodite) wearing a sheer garment—was frequently used in the Roman world to represent the goddess in her role as genetrix, or mother.

The statue type, likely based on an earlier Greek bronze statue of Aphrodite by the sculptor Kallimachos, became popular after Julius Caesar, who claimed the goddess as his ancestor, dedicated a version of it in a temple to Venus Genetrix.

This form was also used in portraits of Roman empresses, who, in producing future emperors, likened themselves to Venus as mothers of the imperial line.

See this Roman statue fragment on view in Gallery 152.

Image:

Ancient Roman. "Fragment of a Statue of Venus," 1st–2nd century. Museum Purchase Fund.
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/40164/fragment-of-a-statue-of-venus

NOW OPEN– "Lee Miller: Fearless."See the first comprehensive survey of Lee Miller’s photographs in more than 25 years, g...
08/29/2026

NOW OPEN– "Lee Miller: Fearless."

See the first comprehensive survey of Lee Miller’s photographs in more than 25 years, gathering approximately 150 works from across the major episodes of her singular career.

A pioneer of Surrealist techniques, Miller took on daring subjects with a readiness that inspired experimental artists and fashion editors alike. She excelled at portraiture and pictured a range of cultural figures in the 1930s—from Charlie Chaplin to Pablo Picasso—most of them personal friends.

Learn more and plan your visit today. https://bit.ly/4wdHI15

Image:

Lee Miller. "Charlie Chaplin with chandelier," 1932. Courtesy of Mark Kelman, New York. © 2026 Lee Miller Archives, England. All rights reserved. Lee Miller Archives

With its warm southern sunlight and leisurely interactions between herders, this painting of the Italian countryside wou...
08/28/2026

With its warm southern sunlight and leisurely interactions between herders, this painting of the Italian countryside would have affirmed urban Dutch perceptions of rural areas as places of innocence and peace.

The son of a painter, Adriaen van de Velde was also inspired by the cattle pieces of Paulus Potter and the pastoral scenes of
Nicolaes Berchem. He achieved a harmonious balance of elements by studying the landscape from life and sketching the cattle in the pasture and the human figures in the studio.

See "Pastoral Landscape with Ruins," on view in Gallery 213.

Image:

Adriaen van de Velde. "Pastoral Landscape with Ruins," 1664. Sidney A. Kent Fund.
https://bit.ly/4wYCu94

08/27/2026

Claude Monet called his "Water Lily" series his "most beautiful" project.

Learn more about this late-career undertaking and the more than 300 canvases he made on the theme with Gloria Groom, Chair and David and Mary Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe.

Work shown:
Claude Monet. "Water Lily Pond," 1917–19. Gift of Mrs. Harvey Kaplan.
https://bit.ly/4bMbT6e

Today is 🐶 Take a W-A-L-K through the collection to see how artists across the ages have depicted our loyal, furry fri...
08/26/2026

Today is 🐶 Take a W-A-L-K through the collection to see how artists across the ages have depicted our loyal, furry friends. https://bit.ly/4x1KTc4

Images:

Giovanni Battista Moroni. "Gian Lodovico Madruzzo," 1551–1552. Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

Gerard ter Borch the Younger. "The Music Lesson," 1665–1675. Gift of Charles T. Yerkes.

Ancient Etruscan. "Amphora (Storage Jar)," 530 BCE–520 BCE. Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. "Winter Scene," 1780–1790. Bequest of Verde C. Graff.

Music and spirituality were important influences on František Kupka's approach to abstraction.This painting's style is k...
08/25/2026

Music and spirituality were important influences on František Kupka's approach to abstraction.

This painting's style is known as Orphism, an art movement in which simultaneous color contrasts are equivalent to musical pitches. Kupka's abstract works were a means of visualizing Theosophy—a blend of philosophy, religion, and science.

Inspired by the stained-glass windows of the Notre-Dame cathedrals in Paris and Chartres, France, this painting combines color, light, and mysticism through its Cubist structure.

See "Reminiscence of a Cathedral" by František Kupka on view in Gallery 391.

Image:

František Kupka. "Reminiscence of a Cathedral," 1920–1923. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro. © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
https://bit.ly/4xnv1l2

Don't miss the first Art Institute exhibition dedicated to Mary Cassatt in more than 25 years—opening September 6.Get to...
08/24/2026

Don't miss the first Art Institute exhibition dedicated to Mary Cassatt in more than 25 years—opening September 6.

Get to know the artist ahead of the highly anticipated show:

- Mary Cassatt was the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists.

- She pursued ambitious and experimental work that centered the everyday lives of women.

- Cassatt fell in love with Japanese prints after seeing an exhibition in 1890 and was inspired by their flattened planes, bold lines, and broad areas of color and decoration.

- This exhibition marks the centennial of her death and presents more than 70 paintings, pastels, and prints—plus materials about her now-lost mural made for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Learn more about "Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism." https://bit.ly/4pbNBYx

Image:

Mary Cassatt. "The Child's Bath," 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago, Robert A. Waller Fund.

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