Childe Hassam
American, 1859­1935
View of the Art Institute
1916
Watercolor over graphite on ivory wove paper
23.5 x 32 cm
Bequest of William McCormick Blair, 1982.1828

This watercolor shows the Art Institute of Chicago 23 years after it was built. Today, wings have been added to the north and south but this original building and its lions look just the same. From its beginning in 1879, the Art Institute has been both a museum and an art school. 

In 1893 when this building opened, most galleries displayed the museum’s  large collection of plaster casts of famous classical sculptures, useful for art students who could not travel to see the originals. Today, the Art Institute houses one of the finest collections in any museum of original art from all over the world.