Smart Museum of Art

Free and open to the public

Given the complexities and varying modes of care, how might we create sites of care that speak to our evolving needs and circumstances?

Join artists engaged with in ℅: Black women, a creative place keeping initiative anchored on the South Side of Chicago, as they discuss connections between art objects from the Smart Museum’s permanent collection and their own artistic practices.

FREE, please register for the webinar link »

Image: Yaoundé Olu, Mother of Worlds, 1975, Pen and ink on illustration board. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Purchase, The Paul and Miriam Kirkley Fund for Acquisitions, 2018.1.

Still from Sleeping Men by Lily Scherlis

Feitler Center

A Series of Small Gestures

UChicago students share short videos reflecting on the questions of how we care for ourselves and each other in a series from the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry.

Explore the videos »
Take Care

Take a virtual tour

What does it mean to care for something, someone, or ourselves? Take Care seeks to unpack matters of care from the personal to the collective.

Explore the exhibition online »
Opening Summer 2021

Toward Common Cause

Twenty-eight MacArthur Fellows selected for Toward Common Cause, a multi-site exhibition organized by the Smart Museum of Art.

Learn more »
Digital resources

Smart at home

Enjoy the Smart from home—visit our digital resource page for hands-on art activities, a trove of artist interviews, virtual exhibition experiences, and more.

Explore with us online »

Irene Hsiao, movement study for Merely a Mistake: A Score for Your Door.

Upcoming Events

- Online
- Adults
Thu. February 25 • 12:00 PM

Close Looking: Erika Rothenberg
- Online
- Adults
Thu. February 25 • 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM

in c/o: Black women on collective care
- Online
- Adults
Thu. March 4 • 4:00 PM

All the World’s Futures: Global Art and Art History in the Wake of COVID-19
- Online
- Adults
Sat. March 20 • 12:01 AM

Take Care, Be Well

View Full Calendar

Virtual Family Days

Make art using materials and tools that you might already have around home or in your recycling bin. Join in a virtual Family Day »
Virtual Class Engagements

Staff at the Feitler Center are available to support virtual teaching and research at the University of Chicago. Start a conversation with us »
Explore the collection

The objects in our collection support academic and artistic study, inspire new ideas, and foster reflection and conversation by our diverse audiences. Explore the collection online »

From the Blog

Winter and spring 2021 schedule

The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago is scheduled to open to the public on April 8, 2021, offering timed reservations to visit the special exhibition Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe.

Gómez-Peña’s Mex Files: Audio Art & Strange Poetry from the US/Mexico Border

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Public Media Institute, and the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art present a year-long series of experimental audio performances from Guillermo Gómez-Peña, a performance artist, writer, activist, and MacArthur Fellow, class of 1991.

The Precariousness of Care

Attending to each other and our communities is costly, messy, exhausting—and vital. Cynthia G. Lindner, Director of Ministry Studies and Clinical Faculty for Preaching and Pastoral Care, writes in Sightings on the precariousness of care and her selection for the Collective Care section of Take Care.

Support the Smart

Now more than ever, your support of the Smart, our exhibitions, programs, and the care of our collections, is deeply appreciated. Please consider becoming a SmartPartner or making a one-time gift. Thank you!

Donate now »

COVID Update:

The University of Chicago

Thu. February 25 • 12 PM - 1 PM

Close Looking: Erika Rothenberg

Thu. February 25 • 6 PM - 7 PM

in c/o: Black women on collective care

Thu. March 4 • 4 PM - 5 PM

All the World’s Futures: Global Art and Art History in the Wake of COVID-19

View Full Calendar

Feitler Center

A Series of Small Gestures

Take Care

Take a virtual tour

Opening Summer 2021

Toward Common Cause

Digital resources

Smart at home

Upcoming Events

Thu. February 25 • 12:00 PM

Close Looking: Erika Rothenberg

Thu. February 25 • 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM

in c/o: Black women on collective care

Thu. March 4 • 4:00 PM

All the World’s Futures: Global Art and Art History in the Wake of COVID-19

Sat. March 20 • 12:01 AM

Take Care, Be Well

View Full Calendar

Virtual Family Days

Virtual Class Engagements

Explore the collection

From the Blog

Winter and spring 2021 schedule

Gómez-Peña’s Mex Files: Audio Art & Strange Poetry from the US/Mexico Border

The Precariousness of Care

Support the Smart