Art Institute
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is the preeminent visual-arts museum in the Twin Cities—arguably, west of Chicago. It roots go back a century, and it now holds a comprehensive collection nationally significant for both its breadth and quality. The MIA is part of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, which also includes the Children's Theater and the College of Art and Design.
In a celebrated Minneapolis civic story, the Art Institute was effectively established on a Sunday afternoon in 1909, when Minneapolis business leaders were reflecting on the civic activity in Chicago, including both its Art Institute and the new Chicago Plan. To the ever-ambitious Minneapolitans, this was an challenge that could not be ignored. The Morrison family, descendents of the first Mayor of Minneapolis, offered its farmstead, Fair Oaks, for a new museum if the business community would donate funding for the building. Supposedly, this was satisfied on the spot, and the museum, designed by the prominent New York firm McKim, Mead & White, opened in 1914 on Dorilus Morrison Park, facing Washburn Fair Oaks Park. (A new Minneapolis Plan was also commissioned.)
Subsequent Art Institute additions included new flanking wings by Tokyo architect Kenzo Tange, opened in 1974; and a superlative expansion and redacting by Michael Graves, which opening in 2006. Among the superb overall collection, be sure to experience the Asian collection, including its reconstructed period rooms.
To Visit the Institute's website chick here