Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Art museum on a 152-acre campus with historic gardens, the Lilly House and a nature park.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art grew out of the Art Association of Indianapolis, founded in 1883, and moved in 1970 to its present site on the former Oldfields estate north-west of the city centre. The collection holds some 50,000 objects, with particular strengths in Neo-Impressionist painting, Japanese Edo-period art, Chinese ceramics, African art and design, and a group of works by J. M. W. Turner. Galleries were reorganised in stages, including a rebuilt Clowes Pavilion completed in 2023.
Since 2017 the museum and its grounds have been presented together under the name Newfields. The campus of about 152 acres includes the American country house Oldfields, built for Hugh McKennan Landon and later home to the Lilly family, with gardens laid out by the Olmsted Brothers, as well as the 100-acre Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park with outdoor commissions. Seasonal outdoor events such as Harvest Nights in autumn and Winterlights in December draw large evening audiences.
Highlights
- Oldfields, the Lilly estate house, with Olmsted Brothers gardens
- Clowes Pavilion of European art, rebuilt and reopened in 2023
- Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park with outdoor commissions
- Strong holdings of Japanese Edo-period and Neo-Impressionist art
