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Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts
was called the Detroit Museum of Art, and contains one of the
biggest and best art collections in the nation. In 2003, it was
ranked the second biggest municipally owned museum in the country
with a magnificent collection valued at more than $1 billion.
Containing over 100 galleries, and covering 677,000 square feet,
with a big restoration and enlargement project finished in 2007 that
added another 77,000 square feet. The museum building is considered
a marvelous architectural creation on its own merits and the
original building designed by Paul Cret is now flanked by south and
north wings that are covered with white marble. The museum is part
of the Cultural Center Historic District and listed in the National
Register of Historic Places in 1983. The first painting that was
donated was in 1883 and has grown into a fantastic collection of
more than 65,000 pieces. It is an encyclopedic museum, with
collections spanning the world from ancient Egyptian relics to
contemporary art. The institute also houses the 1150 seat Detroit
Film Theater and holds excellent art exhibitions. The American art
collection here is believed to be one of the most prominent in the
country and have said it is the third best in the nation. Works of
American artists were started collecting right after it opened in
1883 and it has become a strong survey of our history, with
masterpieces of furniture, sculpture, decorative arts and paintings
from the 18th century, 19th century and 20th century with
contemporary art American art in all medias being collected as well.
Included artists in this spectacular collection are; John James
Audubon, Andy Warhol, George Bellows, James McNeill Whistler, George
Caleb Bingham, Andrew Wyeth, Alexander Calder, William T. Williams,
Mary Cassatt, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Dale Chihuly, Ossawa Tanner,
Frederic Edwin Church, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, Tony Smith, John
Singleton Copley, John French Sloan, Leon Dabo, John Singer Sargent,
Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Thomas Eakins, Paul
Revere, Childe Hassam, Frederic Remington, Robert Henri, Sharon Que,
Winslow Homer, Hiram Powers, George Inness, Duncan Phyfe, Georgia
O'Keefe, Tom Phardel, Charles Wilson Peale and Rembrandt Peale.
And that is just a small listing of the American artists, because
there are still the European masters to be included; like Vincent
van Gogh, Pieter Bruegal, Jan van Eyck, Claude Monet, Giovanni
Bellini, Odilon Redon, Peter Paul Rubens, Edgar Degas, Gerard ter
Borch, Eugene Boudin, Albrecht Durer, Henri Matisse, James Abbott
McNeill Whistler, Eugene Delacroix, Auguste Rodin, Francois Rude,
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijin and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. The list
goes on and on with many of the best artists in the world, and
housed here in one museum that will keep you walking around in a
daze for the whole day or more.
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