Smart Museum of Art

What is Smart Museum of Art?

Its full name honors two men, David and Alfred Smart, whose name the museum carries. It serves the university and the public alike, with a collection of over 17,000 works and objects that it draws on for exhibitions. Its campus setting gives it a different feel from the big downtown museums, and it makes a calmer alternative for travelers who have already seen those.

History of Smart Museum of Art

The museum dates from 1974. Architect Edward Larrabee Barnes designed its building together with the neighboring Cochrane-Woods Art Center, so the two form a single piece of campus architecture. Since then the collection has grown to its present size of more than 17,000 objects. The pairing of museum and art center makes this corner of campus a small hub for the arts at the university.

Visiting Smart Museum of Art: tips

The museum is listed as wheelchair accessible. An hour is usually enough. It sits in a cluster of cultural stops around the university: the Renaissance Society and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures are each about 0.3 mile away, and the DuSable Museum is about 0.4 mile away. You could easily spend a full day visiting three or four museums in this part of Chicago without driving far.

Food is within about 0.1 mile on campus, and EV charging is about 0.4 mile away. A hotel stands about 0.6 mile away if you would like to stay in the neighborhood rather than downtown before setting out on Route 66.