Donating Art
Thank you for considering a gift of art to the Smart Museum. Please read on for our current policies.
Collecting Scope
We consider gifts of art in all media from the Smart Museum’s core collecting areas:
- Modern Art and Design (American and European, 1880–1960)
- Asian Art (all periods)
- European Art (Renaissance–1900)
- Contemporary Art (1960–present)
Assessment Process
The Smart receives numerous gift inquiries each year. To properly assess your artwork, we ask that you contact us with the following information: the title of the work; the artist’s name; history of ownership; description of the work’s size and condition; and photographs.
Smart Museum of Art
Attn: Director’s Office
5550 South Greenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
By phone: 773.834.1778
By e-mail: cindyh@uchicago.edu
Once we receive your information, it will be evaluated by our curatorial team and you can expect to be contacted within 1–2 weeks.
Please note: we ask that you not ship or drop off any art without first contacting us. Though we appreciate the generous impulse, we must be sure that we can handle the artworks properly.
Thank you again for thinking of us.
Top: Auguste Rodin, Reclining Figure (Study for Danaid?), c. 1885 (model, Musee Rodin cast 1959), Cast bronze. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, The Joel Starrels, Jr. Memorial Collection, 1974.217.
Feast | Opens February 16
Discover the radical history of the shared meal as an artistic medium.
Family Days
On the first Saturday of every month, drop by the Smart and join in the free creative family activities!
