University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art

University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art We invite you to visit us!
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The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a leading university art museum that is always free and open to all...
We reserve the right to delete profane, harassing, abusive, commercial, and spam comments and to block repeat offenders. The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art aspires to transform lives by connecting the University of Iowa community, Iowans and the world with extraordinar

y works of art. Founded in 1969, the museum now holds one of the nation’s foremost university art collections, including artworks from around the world and in a range of media from paintings, sculptures, and works on paper to textiles, metalwork, and ceramics. On August 26, 2022, the Stanley Museum of Art will open the doors of its new home—a sustainable, state of the art building designed by Rod Kruse of the Des Moines-based architectural firm BNIM. The beautiful new museum will sit adjacent to the University of Iowa Main Library and Gibson Square Park and will encompass spaces designed for experiential learning, performance, and social events as well as elegant galleries for the display of art. Before the new Stanley Museum of Art building opens, visitors can view selections from our world-class collection at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, where visitors who present proof of Stanley Museum membership are also admitted free of charge. At the Figge Art Museum, you can see examples of the Stanley’s world-renowned modern painting collection, including works by Marsden Hartley, Robert Motherwell, Stuart Davis, Sam Gilliam, Yayoi Kusama, and Alma Thomas, among others.

09/06/2026

It’s called slow looking 👁️👄👁️

Free admission. Plan your visit with a friend today. Just don’t rush them.

Visit the Stanley Museum of Art, always free and open to all, offering free programs all month for the whole family✨
09/05/2026

Visit the Stanley Museum of Art, always free and open to all, offering free programs all month for the whole family✨

"Plants and Power: Art's Botanical Imagination," opening on November 17, will include two loans from the Gochman Family ...
09/01/2026

"Plants and Power: Art's Botanical Imagination," opening on November 17, will include two loans from the Gochman Family Collection.

Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Diana Tuite, enjoyed a tour of the headquarters in New York City in July. Special thanks to Assistant Curator Moonoka Begay (Ndee + Diné) and Collection Associate Nicole van Brugge for the guided walkthrough.

The Gochman Family Collection holds one of the world’s most influential and largest collections of contemporary Native art, with a mission to deepen the global understanding of it.

Learn more about the upcoming exhibition through the link in the comments below🔗

Picture a horse, and it is almost a guarantee that it is not Marc Chagall’s “Blue Horse”. The horse commands the viewer’...
08/31/2026

Picture a horse, and it is almost a guarantee that it is not Marc Chagall’s “Blue Horse”. The horse commands the viewer’s attention, with its front hooves pawing a mysterious flurry (perhaps an apple tree?) in Russian French artist of Jewish descent Chagall’s painting. A canvas of hazy cool colors and lines, and the horse’s head comically whipped around, make his work resemble a dream.

British artist, bookmaker, and printer Ken Campbell also pictured a unique horse with sharp printed lines and crisp, blocky letters as its body. The deep navy and orange word pairings ask the reader to flash through memories to visualize the associations: PLANTS/HAIR, HORSE/SACRIFICE, FOOT/NIGHT, RIVER/GUT.

By the end of this journey the horse Campbell is reaching for comes into focus, much like Chagall’s, at once real and dream-like.

Both artists take a familiar animal and ask viewers to look again. They play with perspective to create village rooftops dwarfed by a horse’s body or craft a reversible book where the reader is looking in two different directions.

Now – picture a horse.

“Le Cheval Bleu [The Blue Horse]”. Oil on Canvas, 34 7/8 x 24in. Gift of Owen and Leone Elliott. 1968.11. Marc Chagall.

“Horse” by Ken Campbell, UI Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives, x-Collection, FOLIO N7433.4.C36 H67 1985

In memory of Yayoi Kusama (1929–2026), the Japanese artist famous for her polka-dot and repetitive pattern works and imm...
08/28/2026

In memory of Yayoi Kusama (1929–2026), the Japanese artist famous for her polka-dot and repetitive pattern works and immersive installations.

Her painting "Red No. 28." is currently on view at the Stanley Museum of Art. Plan your visit today to experience the work in person. Admission to the museum and all exhibitions is free.
Yayoi Kusama, “Red No. 28.” 1960, Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gaston de Havenon. 1969.517

Photo: Yusuke Miyazaki

Calling all pups on ! They may not be able to visit the galleries, but the Stanley welcomes all to explore the outdoor ...
08/26/2026

Calling all pups on ! They may not be able to visit the galleries, but the Stanley welcomes all to explore the outdoor sculptures in the park.

Share a photo of your fur-baby outside the museum and tag our page to prove even dogs need art in their lives 🐾

Now on view: “Portraiture & Archives in African Photography” and "Maam Njaré: Goddess of Water."Explore the history and ...
08/22/2026

Now on view: “Portraiture & Archives in African Photography” and "Maam Njaré: Goddess of Water."

Explore the history and evolution of African photography through both exhibitions. Together, they trace how photographs hold memory, identity, and the sacred.

Admission to the museum and all exhibitions is always free.

Plan your visit this weekend through the link in the comments below.

Opening November 17, 2026: "Plants and Power: Art’s Botanical Imagination" This expansive exhibition brings together mor...
08/19/2026

Opening November 17, 2026: "Plants and Power: Art’s Botanical Imagination"

This expansive exhibition brings together more than 50 paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts objects, and multimedia installations to examine how plant protagonists function as artistic subjects, materials, and methodologies.

🔗Learn more through the link in the comments below

Fidencio Fifield-Perez, "dacament 14," 2018. Acrylic on envelope, 13 x 9.75 in (33 x 25 cm). Museum Purchase 2025.43. Courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth and Council. Photo: Paul Salveson

Address

160 W. Burlington Street, SMA
Iowa City, IA
52242

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 4:30pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 4:30pm
Saturday 10am - 4:30pm
Sunday 12pm - 4:30pm

Telephone

+13193351727

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