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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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How love grows cold: The curious adage behind a visiting painting
By Tom Rassieur Mia’s recent exhibition “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence” prominently featured a painting by Luca Signorelli (c. 1450–1523) with the title Allegory of Fertility and Abundance. Painted in various shades of gray, it resembles a relief sculpture carved in stone, its five figures—three adults and two children—all in some degree of nudity. A woman ...
Self-guided tour celebrates African-American art history at Mia
For Black History Month, Mia has created a self-guided tour exploring three centuries of art by African-American artists now on view at the museum. Pick up a tour guide on your next visit or take the virtual tour here online. Gallery 304 Joshua Johnson, Portrait of Richard John Cock, c. 1817 What is the first ...
Camille Billops’ playful sculptures debut at Mia during Black History Month
Mia acquired the whimsically animated figures of Remembering Vienna III, by Camille Billops, in 2021. They’re now on display, for the first time at Mia, in the lobby. Billops was a pillar of New York City’s Black cultural community from the 1960s onward—an artist, filmmaker, archivist, and educator. She was a lifelong social activist committed ...
“I wanted people to know”: The moving history behind Winfred Rembert’s “The Beginning”
By Diane Richard
Winfred Rembert had a tumultuous life in which he experienced the full force of American racism. At 19, he survived a near-lynching and spent seven years incarcerated. He started to draw in prison. He later married, had eight children with his wife Patsy, and began making art based on his life ...
What does Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” have to do with Botticelli?
By Anna Dilliard
Renaissance literally means “rebirth.” The term most famously refers to the flowering of arts, culture, and science that began in 1400s Italy, when the idea of humanism (an emphasis on human—versus religious—values) took hold and the culture of patronage flourished. Artists looked to ancient Greek and Roman marbles and myths for ...
Homer in Love: A New Year’s Tale
By Tim Gihring
(This is a transcript of an episode of The Object podcast, produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and originally released on December 31, 2020. You can listen to it here.) There are a lot of things you might want to do this New Year’s Eve. Not sure I want to ...
Q&A with Valéria Piccoli, Mia’s first curator of Latin American art
By Tim Gihring
For its first century-plus of existence, Mia never had a dedicated curator of Latin American art. Now, thanks to the support of longtime benefactors, the museum has Valéria Piccoli, the former chief curator of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, in Brazil, one of the most esteemed art museums in ...
How JPMorgan Chase helped bring the Uffizi to Minnesota
By Tim Gihring
When Pilar Oppedisano, the market manager and executive director of J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Minneapolis, learned that Mia was planning the exhibition “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi,” now on view through January 8, she recognized a rare opportunity—and knew exactly who to call. Because not only is ...
Meet the Medicis: The mad, marvelous family behind the Italian Renaissance
By Tim Gihring
It’s good to be the king. It’s good to be the queen, for that matter. But in Florence, Italy, in the 1400s and early 1500s, it was great to be the Medicis. Not royalty, but rulers nonetheless—a rich, powerful family who oversaw the rise of Florence as the intellectual and artistic ...
Mia’s 2022 Holiday Gift Guide
By Molly Lax
Ready or not, the holiday shopping season is here. We’ll make it easy: the Store at Mia has something unique and creative for everyone on your list. Here’s what we’re excited about this year. Inspired by Botticelli In celebration of the major exhibition “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks of the Uffizi,” ...