Art Institute of Chicago

The **Art Institute of Chicago** (**AIC**) is an art museum in Grant Park, Chicago. The Art Institute owns one of the world's best collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.  It also owns important American art, Old Masters, European and American decorative arts, Asian art and modern and contemporary art. The museum is linked with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. James Cuno is its Director and President. Its buildings have one million square feet (92,903,040 m2) of space. It is the second largest art museum in the United States. Only the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has more space. The same year, it purchased a lot on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street for $45,000. The school rented the property's existing building, and a new building was constructed behind it to house the school's facilities.

While Chicago planned how to host the 1892–93 World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair), the Art Institute wanted a new building.  The Art Institute proposed that the city build a permanent building on the lakefront for the fair and give the new building to the Institute afterwards. The city agreed, and the building was completed in time for the second year of the fair. Construction costs were paid by selling the Michigan/Van Buren property. On October 31, 1893, the Institute moved into the new building. In 1924, the museum building expanded to the east by bridging over the railroad tracks with a new wing on the east side of the tracks.

Between 1959 and 1970, some people did not think that photos (art and documentary photography) were serious art that should be shown in art galleries.  The Institute fought to change people's minds to accept such photos. Photo curator Hugh Edwards lead this fight.

As Director of the museum starting in the early 1980s, James N. Wood conducted a major expansion of its collection and oversaw a major renovation and expansion project for its facilities. *The New York Times* called Wood "one of the most respected museum leaders in the country". Wood created major exhibitions of works by Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh that set records for attendance at the museum. He retired from the museum in 2004.

In 2006, the Art Institute began building its new "The Modern Wing". The new wing is on the southwest corner of Columbus and Monroe. Pritzker Prize winning architect Renzo Piano designed the new wing. It opened to the public on May 16, 2009.  The  building makes the Art Institute the second largest art museum in the United States.  The building houses the museum’s world-renowned collections of 20th- and 21st-century art, specifically modern European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture and design, and photography.

## The Museum’s Collection
, *American Gothic* (1930)]]
The collection of the Art Institute of Chicago covers more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world. The museum owns more than 260,000 works of art. The art institute holds works of art ranging from as early as the Japanese prints to the most updated American art.

Today, the museum is most famous for its collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and American paintings. There are more than 30 paintings by Claude Monet in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection. These include six of Monet's *Haystacks* and a number of his *Water Lilies*. Also in the collection are important works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir such as *Two Sisters (On the Terrace)* and Henri Matisse's *The Bathers*, Paul Cézanne's *The Basket of Apples*, and *Madame Cézanne in a Yellow Chair.* *At the Moulin Rouge* by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is another highlight, as are Georges Seurat's *Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte* and Gustave Caillebotte's *Paris Street; Rainy Day*.  Non-French paintings of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection include  Vincent Van Gogh's *Bedroom in Arles* and *Self-portrait, 1887*. The museum also has American art works including Grant Wood's *American Gothic,*  Edward Hopper's *Nighthawks* and Mary Cassatt's ''The Child's Bath.'' In September 2010, the Art Institute launched its first mobile application. This application is a catalogue (guide) to this Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection.

The Art Institute also shows a number of works that are not paintings. The Thorne Miniature Rooms hold 1:12 scale interiors showcasing American, European and Asian architectural and furniture styles from the Middle Ages to the 1930s (when the rooms were constructed).

The Touch Gallery of the museum is specially designed for people who cannot see. It has several works which museum guests are encouraged to experience though the sense of touch instead of through sight as well as specially designed description plates written in braille. The American Decorative Arts galleries contain furniture pieces designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles and Ray Eames. The Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman galleries hold the mummy and mummy case of Paankhenamun, as well as several gold and silver coins.

### The Terra Collection
The Terra Museum (now the Terra Foundation) was a separate Chicago art museum that closed in October 2004. Since April 2005, approximately fifty paintings from that museum have been on loan to the Department of American Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The combined collections of the Terra and the Art Institute are located in a new suite of galleries. They provide one of the nation’s most comprehensive presentations of American art. The foundation’s collection of American works on paper are in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute.

### African American Art Collection
Art Institute of Chicago promotes the study of art made by African-Americans. Its collection provide a historical illustration of the progress made by African Americans. Works also show African Americans' continuing struggle. The collection includes items dating from the Civil War era, from the Harlem Renaissance, from the civil rights struggles following World War II and from the contemporary period.

### European Art Collection
The Art Institute owns a collection of medieval art made in Europe during the years 800-1300 AD. It features both religious works and daily life objects. It includes painting and sculpture,  metalwork and stained glass, textiles and manuscript illumination. The museum owns major collections of arms and armor, jewelry, ceramics, and tapestries.  The museum owns items from the Renaissance era (1300-1600) in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.

## The Art Institute Building
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston, Massachusetts designed the Allerton Building in the Beaux-Arts style. It was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition as the World's Congress Auxiliary Building with the  that the Art Institute  the building after the fair closed.

Two bronze lion statues are on the sides of the Art Institute's western  on Michigan Avenue. Their sculptor Edward L. Kemeys gave them unofficial names: the south lion is "stands in an attitude of defiance," and the north lion is "on the prowl." When a Chicago sports team plays in the championships of their respective league (that is, the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Finals, not the entire playoffs), the lions are frequently dressed in that team's uniform. Evergreen wreaths are placed around their necks during the Christmas season.

The east entrance of the museum is marked by the stone arch entrance that was moved from the old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Louis Sullivan designed the Exchange in 1894. The Exchange was torn down in 1972. But saved portions of the original trading room were rebuilt inside the Art Institute.
### Galleries above the railroad tracks
The Art Institute building is unusual because it is two sets of buildings linked by a two-story bridge over open-air railroad tracks. The construction of Millenium Park moved the Metra Electric and South Shore railroad lines underground. This made room for the new Modern Wing and exterior courtyards.  Before this change, the lower level of the bridge building was formerly the windowless Gunsaulus hall, but is now home to the Alsdorf Galleries showcasing Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan Art. The renovation added windows facing north toward Millennium Park. Renzo Piano designed the gallery space in conjunction with his design of the Modern Wing. The gallery features the same window screening used there to protect the art from direct sunlight. The upper level of the bridge building formerly held the modern European galleries, But it was renovated in 2008. The galleries now show Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.

### Modern Wing
On May 16, 2009, the Art Institute opened the Modern Wing, the largest expansion in the museum's history. The  addition, designed by Renzo Piano, makes the Art Institute the second-largest museum in the US.  The Modern Wing is home to the museum's collection of early 20th-century European art, including Pablo Picasso’s *The Old Guitarist*, Henri Matisse’s *Bathers by a River*, and René Magritte’s *Time Transfixed.* The Modern wing also houses contemporary art from after 1960; new photography, video media, architecture and design galleries. Those galleries show original  by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Bruce Goff. The Modern wing also has temporary exhibition ; shops and s; a cafe and a restaurant, *Terzo Piano*, that overlooks Millennium Park from its terrace. In addition, the Nichols Bridgeway connects a sculpture garden on the roof of the Modern wing with the adjacent Millennium Park to the north and a courtyard designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol.
In 2009, the Modern Wing won a Chicago Innovation Awards.

### Libraries
The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are on the ground floor of the museum. The Libraries' collections cover all periods of art, but is most known for its large collection of 18th-20th century architecture.  The Libraries serve the museum staff, college, and university students, and the general public. The Friends of the Libraries is a support group for the Libraries. It offers events and special tours for its members.

## Additional notable selections from the collection
Note that other notable works are in the collection but the following examples are ones in the public domain and for which pictures are available. 

File:Saint Martin and the Beggar (c1597-1600) by El Greco - Chicago.jpg|El Greco, *Saint Martin and the Beggar*, c. 1597-1600
File:Antoine Watteau - Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering).jpg|Antoine Watteau, *Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering),* 1718-1721
File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 021.jpg|Eugène Delacroix, *Combat of the Giaour and the Pasha*, 1827
Image:Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers.jpg|Édouard Manet, *Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers,* 1864-1865
File:Seascape Calm Weather .jpg|Édouard Manet, *Seascape Calm Weather,* 1864-1865
Image:Gustave Caillebotte - Paris Street; Rainy Day - Google Art Project.jpg|Gustave Caillebotte, *Paris Street; Rainy Day,* 1876-1877
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - By the Water.jpg|Pierre-Auguste Renoir, *By the Water,* 1880
Image:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 007.jpg|Pierre-Auguste Renoir, *On the Terrace,* 1881
File:Jules Breton, le chant de l'alouette.1884.jpg|Jules Breton, *Song of the Lark,* 1884 
File:Paul Cézanne 044.jpg|Paul Cézanne, ''The Bay of Marseilles, view from L'Estaque,*1885 
Image:VanGogh 1887 Selbstbildnis.jpg|Vincent Van Gogh, *Self-portrait,* 1887  
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 135.jpg|Vincent Van Gogh, *Bedroom in Arles,* 1888 
Image: Wheatstacks (End of Summer), 1890-91 (190 Kb); Oil on canvas, 60 x 100 cm (23 5-8 x 39 3-8 in), The Art Institute of Chicago.jpg|Claude Monet, *Wheatstacks (End of Summer),* 1890-1891
Image:Le panier de pommes, par Paul Cézanne.jpg|Paul Cézanne, *The Basket of Apples,* c.1890s
File:Lautrec at the moulin rouge 1892.jpg| Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, *At the Moulin Rouge*, 1892
File:Paul Gauguin, No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?), 1896, 1933.1119, Art Institute of Chicago.jpg|Paul Gauguin, *Why are you angry? (No te aha oe Riri)*, 1896
File:Winslow Homer 005.jpg|Winslow Homer, *After the Hurricane,* 1899
File:Edgar Degas - Woman at Her Toilette.jpg|Edgar Degas, *Woman at Her Toilette,* c. 1900-1905
Image:Claude Monet - Water Lilies - 1906, Ryerson.jpg|Claude Monet, *Water Lilies,* 1906 
File:Juan Gris - Portrait of Pablo Picasso - Google Art Project.jpg|Juan Gris, *Portrait of Picasso*, 1912
File:Amadeo Modigliani 040.jpg|Amadeo Modigliani, *Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz'', 1916

## Related pages
* Visual arts of Chicago
* List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago

## References
## Other websites
* The Art Institute of Chicago
* The Art Institute of Chicago: collections
* The Art Institute of Chicago: Inside-Out Antique & Collectable Postcard Exhibit - at The Chicago Postcard Museum
* The Ryerson and Burnham Libraries 
* The Terra Foundation For American Art
* A Visitor's Experience: The Art Institute of Chicago