Detroit Institute of Arts
Encyclopaedic art museum on Woodward Avenue, known for Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry murals.
The Detroit Institute of Arts traces its origins to a museum of art founded in 1885 and moved in 1927 into its present white marble building on Woodward Avenue, designed by the French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret in a Beaux-Arts manner. Wings were added to the north and south in 1966 and 1971, and a large rebuilding completed in 2007 reorganised the galleries. The collection numbers more than sixty thousand works and spans antiquity to the present day.
The museum's best-known feature is Rivera Court, where Diego Rivera painted the twenty-seven fresco panels of Detroit Industry between 1932 and 1933 on a commission arranged by Edsel Ford. Other strengths include European painting, African, Islamic and Asian art, American decorative arts and a Great Hall of arms and armour. The building sits in Detroit's Midtown cultural district, alongside the main public library, Wayne State University and several other museums.
Highlights
- Rivera Court, with Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry frescoes of 1932-33
- Beaux-Arts marble building of 1927 by Paul Philippe Cret
- Great Hall displays of European arms and armour
- Wide collection from ancient Egypt to contemporary art
