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Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.
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Once at MIA: Opening a temple to art
At 3 p.m. on the afternoon of January 7, 1915, the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis sent up a prayer: “Accept now, we beseech thee, our father in heaven, under thy gracious favor, the fair temple which we today dedicate to thy name for the ennobling purposes of art.” May God, he ...
Once at MIA: Two letters that built a museum
The MIA began with two letters. One proferred the land, the other the starter money. And within four years, the whole thing was built. On January 3, 1911, Clinton Morrison wrote a letter to the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, explaining his ideas for how the proposed art museum should be situated in the city. ...
Art Inspires: James Norton on the domestic trials of Merope
Merope, one of the seven sisters known as the Pleiades, is depicted in a statue at the MIA as a woman searching, casting about for the family that deserted her for the act of marrying a mortal, Sisyphus. One can only imagine the trauma of that separation. Thus: Merope Calls Home to Sort Out Her ...
Introducing "Once at MIA"—a year of amazing images and surprising stories from the archives
His sweater, torn to shreds, gives him away. An urchin, a ragamuffin, a child of the Great Depression. He is William Moloney from northeast Minneapolis, according to the caption, age 11. What could he relate to in the marble temple to the arts? In 2015, as the MIA celebrates a century of art and wonder, ...
Introducing “Once at MIA”—a year of amazing images and surprising stories from the archives
His sweater, torn to shreds, gives him away. An urchin, a ragamuffin, a child of the Great Depression. He is William Moloney from northeast Minneapolis, according to the caption, age 11. What could he relate to in the marble temple to the arts? In 2015, as the MIA celebrates a century of art and wonder, ...
Love, Italian style: The infamous "scandale" behind Elizabeth Taylor's Bulgari brooch
Midway through the exhibition “Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945,” up through January 4 at the MIA, the gallery called Hollywood on the Tiber spotlights the role of films and celebrities in popularizing Italian fashion worldwide in the 1950s and ’60s. Many of the objects in this section boast high-profile provenances, having been worn by Audrey ...
Love, Italian style: The infamous “scandale” behind Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari brooch
Midway through the exhibition “Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945,” up through January 4 at the MIA, the gallery called Hollywood on the Tiber spotlights the role of films and celebrities in popularizing Italian fashion worldwide in the 1950s and ’60s. Many of the objects in this section boast high-profile provenances, having been worn by Audrey ...
A Short Glossary of Italian Style
To fully immerse yourself in “Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945” (at the MIA through January 4), or if you simply want to dress with a little more pizzazz (that’s Diana Vreeland, not Italian), you’ll need to know the language. Not all of it, but a few key words that unlock the mystery of looking like ...
Why magical thinking still prevails—and it's not a bad thing
Most of us adults think of ourselves as rational. We no longer believe, if we ever did, that Wile E. Coyote can walk off a cliff—and keep walking. That we never have to grow up. But in many ways, we don’t. We are creatures of magical thinking, even as adults. Even in the supposedly über-rational ...
Why magical thinking still prevails—and it’s not a bad thing
Most of us adults think of ourselves as rational. We no longer believe, if we ever did, that Wile E. Coyote can walk off a cliff—and keep walking. That we never have to grow up. But in many ways, we don’t. We are creatures of magical thinking, even as adults. Even in the supposedly über-rational ...