Smart Museum of Art scheduled to open to public on April 8, with the special exhibition Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe 

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 Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe, a new exhibition in which passion, violence, and virtue emerge as fundamental, intertwined elements in European artworks of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. 

Throughout February and March, the Smart Museum will continue to offer a series of online programs, virtual experiences, and at-home art activities. The Museum will also continue to support UChicago student and faculty research and teaching with objects from the collection, by appointment with the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry. 

These shifts to the previously announced schedule come in part as the Smart Museum, working with UChicago Facilities, has accelerated the timing of the final phase of a multi-year HVAC project. When completed this Spring, the project will result in the replacement of conditioning and humidity systems that date to the opening of the building in 1974. 

In addition to shifting the dates for Lust, Love, and Loss (April 8–June 13, 2021) the Spring exhibition schedule has been further adjusted to include two new projects drawn from the collection—one highlighting recent acquisitions and the other featuring clusters of artworks that were selected in support of individual courses across disciplines at the University of Chicago. The Fall exhibitions Take Care and Claudia Wieser: Generations are accessible virtually, through streaming tours and a suite of upcoming digital programs; the previously announced exhibition not all realisms has been postponed to a future date. The latest exhibition schedule can be found on the Smart Museum’s website. 

Additional information about Spring hours and visitor protocols, including how to make a reservation, will be shared at a later date. In making our preparations, the Smart Museum will continue to monitor public health guidelines issued by the University of Chicago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State of Illinois, and the City of Chicago. Please check our website or social media channels for the latest updates. 

We look forward to seeing you this spring!