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Birth of the Art Institute
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879 as both a museum and school, first stood on the southwest corner of State and Monroe Streets. It was originally called the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. -
The World's Columbian Exposition
As the city prepared to dazzle the country as host of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Art Institute's trustees negotiated with the city's civic bodies for a new structure located on a park site at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. The design of the classical Beaux-Arts building, by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, allowed for the institution's ambitious goals. The Art Institute officially opened on December 8, 1893. -
Going "Modern"
n 1913 the museum startled the city by hosting the Armory Show, a sprawling exhibition of avant-garde European painting and sculpture. Exceptional purchases from that controversial exhibition launched the museum's collection of modern art. -
Post-War Expansion
Expansion of the museum was again required to suitably display a collection that now included nearly every artistic medium. The bold solution was to build over the Illinois Central Railroad tracks that bordered the Art Institute's east wall. Additions for both the school and museum were added and include memorials to two young men who died in World War I: the George Alexander McKinlock Jr. Memorial Court (in 1924) and the Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Theater (in 1925). The Art Institute's holdings of -
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Modest Changes
The material shortages that followed World War II brought a halt to the Art Institute's building additions. Changes began modestly in the 1950s with interior reconstructions, creating spaces to accommodate new curatorial departments. -
New Wings
The growth of the professional staff led to the completion of the first major new structure in more than 20 years: the B. F. Ferguson Memorial Building. This addition is situated to the north of the original structure, which was named after long-time trustee Robert Allerton in 1968. The Morton Wing, erected in 1962, to the south of the Allerton Building, was designed to house the expanding modern art collection and restore symmetry to the complex. -
An Academic Space
The 1970s saw a sharp increase in both the number of art students and the number of visitors to museums. This trend generated the Rubloff Building to provide new studios, classrooms, and a film center for the school, and new public spaces for the museum. -
The Rice Building
A two-year renovation and restoration program of the Allerton building's second floor renewed the space's symmetry, improved lighting, and created optimum viewing conditions. The dramatic increase of the contemporary art collection and the popularity of large traveling exhibitions led to the construction of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Building in 1988. -
Time for an Asian Collection
In the 1990s, the Art Institute constructed a new suite of galleries to house its Asian collection. Here, famed architect Tadao Ando designed his first American space, a gallery for Japanese screens.
Tadao Ando -
Little Tweakings
In 1993, a totally reconstructed Kraft Education Center opened to serve students, teachers, and families. Restoration of the Art Institute's earliest educational spaces became a priority: the Ryerson Library renovated in 1994 with restored interiors and new underground stacks, and work on Fullerton Auditorium began in 1999. -
The Modern Wing
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, the Modern Wing provides a new home for the museum's collection of 20th- and 21st-century art. Nearly a decade in the making, this 264,000 square-foot building increases the size of the Art Institute by a third, making it the second largest art museum in the United States.
