9 Best Sights in Chicago, Illinois

Come for the sterling collection of old masters and impressionists (an entire room is dedicated to Monet); linger over the extraordinary and comprehensive photography collection; take in a number of fine American works; and discover paintings, drawings, sculpture, and design spanning the ancient to the contemporary world.

With its flanking lions and marble lobby, the Michigan Avenue main building was once part of the World's Columbian Exposition. It opened as the Art Institute on December 8, 1893. While the collection is best known for its impressionist and postimpressionist pieces, visitors will find works from a vast range of periods and places, including Greek, Roman, Byzantine, European, Asian, African, and Native American art. Such iconic works as Grant Wood's American Gothic and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks can be found in the American galleries. Chicago favorites like the Thorne Miniature Room and Marc Chagall's stained-glass American Windows are must-sees as well.

After the Renzo Piano–designed Modern Wing opened in 2009, the Art Institute became one of the largest art museums in the country. The 264,000-square-foot building contains the finest 20th- and 21st-century art in many mediums.

A group of art patrons who felt the great Art Institute was unresponsive to modern work founded the MCA in 1967, and it has remained a renegade art museum ever since. It doesn't have any permanent exhibits; this lends a feeling of freshness but also makes it impossible to predict what will be on display at any given time. Special exhibits are devoted mostly to original shows you can't see anywhere else.

The largest Latino cultural museum in the country (and the first Latino one accredited by the American Alliance of Museums) is definitely worth a look. Its galleries house impressive displays of contemporary, traditional, and Mesoamerican art from both sides of the border, as well as vivid exhibits that trace immigration woes and political struggles. The 20,000-piece permanent collection includes pre-Cuauhtemoc artifacts, textiles, folk art, paintings, prints, and drawings. Every fall the giant Day of the Dead exhibit stuns Chicagoans with its altars from artists across the U.S. and Mexico.

Located in Portage Park, this museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting art inspired by combat and created by veterans. Founded in 1981, its goal is to serve as a space for civilians, veterans, and current military alike to share an open dialogue on the lasting impacts of warfare. The museum houses over two thousand works of art from those who have served in conflicts from WWII through the Global War on Terror. 

Comprised of three galleries, this multipurpose space is among the most notable sights on the Northwestern University campus. The impressive rotating collection includes prints, photographs, and other works on paper spanning the 15th to 21st centuries. An outdoor sculpture garden features pieces by Joan Miró and Barbara Hepworth. Workshops, lectures, and symposia are also hosted here, and the museum's Block Cinema screens classic and contemporary films.

Intuit showcases work from creators outside the artistic mainstream, many of whom used whatever supplies they had at their disposal to realize their vision. Collectively it’s a testament to the force of the creative impulse, no matter one’s background. Temporary exhibitions change throughout the year, but the heart of the museum is its exhibition about the internationally renowned artist Henry Darger, featuring a selection of artwork and anchored by a recreation of the artist’s cramped one-room apartment with his actual ephemera---think volumes of scrapbooks, balls of twine, pencil stubs, and paint pots—along with digital elements that explore the art, writings, methods and motivations of this mystery-shrouded artist.

"Contemporary" is generally defined here as work made in the past two or three decades. Curators constantly seek out new talent and underappreciated established photographers, which means that there are artists here you probably won't see elsewhere. Rotating exhibits have included explorations of infrastructure, crime, and American identity.

If you want to see masterpieces but don't want to spend a long day wandering around one of the major art museums, the Smart, which turned 50 in 2024, may be just your speed. Its diverse exhibition program features art from around the globe.

Modern and contemporary art fans with an interest in the artistic achievements of the Ukrainian diaspora head to this small museum at the far western edge of the Ukrainian Village. One of its two galleries is dedicated to changing exhibitions; the other features the museum's permanent collection of mixed media, sculpture, and painting from the 1950s to the present. Some of the most interesting works are kinetic steel-wire sculptures by Konstantin Milonadis, the constructed reliefs of Ron Kostyniuk, and painted wood structures by Mychajlo Urban.