The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is the largest art museum in the Minneapolis area. Admission is free, and you'll certainly get your money's worth if you give them the $3 suggested donation. You can learn a lot from this museum; pieces on display here have curatorial commentary alongside them more frequently than in most other museums. Moreover, the museum has a number of monitors with interactive (touch-sensitive) displays, all very good.

The museum is strongest in European (and American) art from the 17th century to the present: not just paintings, but also sculpture, drawings, photography, decorative arts, and textiles. The smaller Asian collection is also impressive, with one large gallery and some other space devoted to jade. Those two categories cover most of the collection, but there are smaller rooms on other areas, and a number of galleries used for visiting exhibits or for pieces by Minneapolis-area artists.

Directions to the Institute: check out what they have to say. If you don't have a car, the walk from the Geometry Center takes at least forty minutes. A better idea is the #2 bus. Catch this bus underneath the Washington Ave. pedestrian bridge or at Cedar and Riverside it leaves at 10:08 and every forty minutes thereafter. It costs $1; ask the driver where to get off. If you stay at the museum until the 5:00 closing time, you'll have to catch the 5:27 bus back; you might want to aim for the 4:47 instead. On weekdays the busses run more frequently but are more expensive. Call 827-7733 for general bus info. from a person or 341-4BUS for similar information from a computer.

Directions to Cedar and Riverside: take Washington Ave. across 35-W. Take a right at the big intersection (Seven Corners); this gets you onto Cedar. Riverside is the street at the stop light; take the bus in the direction away from the Geometry Center.

The Geometry Center Home Page

Comments to: webmaster@geom.umn.edu
Created: Jun 18 1996 --- Last modified: Jun 18 1996