15 Must-See Art Institute of Chicago Exhibits

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The Art Institute of Chicago is home to nearly 300,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years — which means that even if you looked at one piece every ten seconds, it would take you over a month to see everything.

Nobody has that kind of time (or that kind of stamina), so we put together this guide to the 15 must-see artworks you absolutely cannot miss, plus everything you need to know about 2026 exhibitions, ticket prices, and free admission days.

15 Must-See Artworks at the Art Institute of Chicago

Ranked #2 on TripAdvisor’s “Best of the Best” U.S. attractions in 2025, the Art Institute of Chicago holds one of the world’s great collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, along with remarkable holdings in American art, modern and contemporary works, Asian art, European decorative arts, and much more. Here are the 15 artworks we recommend making a beeline for — consider this your “essentials tour” of the museum.

1. Nighthawks — Edward Hopper, 1942

If the Art Institute of Chicago had to be represented by a single painting, this might be the one. Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks captures four figures in a brightly lit all-night diner, isolated from the dark, empty street outside. It’s become the definitive visual statement about urban loneliness — and yet there’s something oddly comforting about it, too. You can almost smell the coffee.

Hopper completed it just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and that undercurrent of anxiety is palpable. The painting has been parodied, referenced, and reimagined thousands of times (you’ve probably seen it with Star Wars characters), but nothing compares to standing in front of the original. It’s larger than most people expect — about five feet wide — and the fluorescent glow of the diner feels almost real.

📍 Find it: Gallery 262, American Art

2. American Gothic — Grant Wood, 1930

You already know this painting — the stern-faced farmer holding a pitchfork next to a woman in front of a house with a distinctive Gothic window. What you might not know: the two figures aren’t husband and wife. Grant Wood intended them to be a father and his unmarried daughter. And the models? Wood’s dentist and his own sister.

American Gothic debuted right here at the Art Institute in 1930, where Wood won a $300 prize. Created during the onset of the Great Depression, it was meant as a celebration of rural Midwestern values — though critics at the time couldn’t decide whether it was tribute or satire. Nearly a century later, art lovers still debate it. That’s part of what makes it one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Fair warning: it’s smaller than you think. About two feet by two and a half feet. But the impact is enormous.

📍 Find it: Gallery 263, American Art

3. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — Georges Seurat, 1884–86

You probably recognize this one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — Cameron stares into it during their Art Institute scene, and the camera zooms closer and closer until the figures dissolve into tiny dots. That’s the whole point. Georges Seurat invented Pointillism with this painting, placing millions of individual dots of color side by side so that your eye blends them into a cohesive image. It took him two years.

The painting is massive — nearly seven feet tall and ten feet wide — and depicts Parisians relaxing along the banks of the Seine on a sunny afternoon. Stand back and you see a peaceful park scene. Step close and it fractures into an astonishing mosaic of color. It’s like looking at the world through a different kind of lens, and it never gets old.

📍 Find it: Gallery 240, European Painting and Sculpture

4. The Bedroom — Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Van Gogh painted his bedroom in Arles, France — his first real home of his own — three times. The Art Institute has the third version, and standing in front of it feels strangely intimate, like you’ve been invited into someone’s private space. The bold colors, tilted perspective, and thick brushstrokes create a room that somehow feels both cozy and restless, which is a pretty good description of Van Gogh himself.

He painted it from memory while recovering at an asylum in Saint-Rémy after his famous breakdown, hoping to capture “an expression of absolute restfulness.” The other two versions live at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

📍 Find it: Gallery 241, European Painting and Sculpture

5. Water Lilies — Claude Monet, 1906

The Art Institute holds the second-largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the world (after the Musée d’Orsay), and Water Lilies is the jewel of that collection. Claude Monet spent the last 30 years of his life painting his water garden at Giverny, France, obsessing over the way light played on the surface of the pond at different times of day and in different seasons.

This 1906 version is luminous — shimmering purples, blues, and greens that seem to vibrate on the canvas. And if you love this, don’t leave the Impressionist galleries without also finding Monet’s Stacks of Wheat series and works by Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Caillebotte (whose Paris Street; Rainy Day is another Art Institute treasure).

📍 Find it: Gallery 243, European Painting and Sculpture

6. The Old Guitarist — Pablo Picasso, 1903–04

One look at this painting and you’ll understand why Picasso’s early period is called the Blue Period. Painted almost entirely in cold blue tones, The Old Guitarist depicts a blind, emaciated man hunched over his guitar — a portrait of poverty and isolation that Picasso knew firsthand during his struggling years in Barcelona and Paris.

Here’s a detail that makes it even more fascinating: X-ray analysis has revealed a hidden painting beneath the surface — a woman and child, partially visible if you know where to look (around the old man’s neck and head). Picasso often painted over earlier works when he couldn’t afford new canvases. You’ll find this in the Modern Wing.

📍 Find it: Gallery 391, Modern Art

7. Sky Above Clouds IV — Georgia O’Keeffe, 1965

You can’t miss this painting — literally. At 24 feet wide, it’s the largest canvas Georgia O’Keeffe ever painted. She created it in her garage in New Mexico (the only space big enough) and it hasn’t left the Art Institute since it arrived in 1983 because it’s simply too large and fragile to move.

The painting captures the view from an airplane window — an endless field of clouds stretching toward a pink-orange horizon. O’Keeffe was 77 when she painted it, inspired by her frequent flights between New Mexico and New York. Standing in front of it feels like floating. It’s one of those artworks that photographs can’t capture — you have to see it in person.

📍 Find it: Gallery 249, American Art

8. The Great Wave — Katsushika Hokusai, 1830–33

Even if you can’t name the artist, you know this image. The Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the most reproduced artworks in human history — you’ve seen it on posters, phone cases, tote bags, and tattoos worldwide. The original is a woodblock print from Hokusai’s series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, and what makes it brilliant is the composition: that enormous, curling wave dwarfs Mount Fuji in the background, creating a tension between nature’s power and the sacred mountain’s quiet permanence.

Note: Because this is a print on paper, it’s light-sensitive and may be rotated on and off display. Check with the museum if this is a must-see for your visit.

📍 Find it: Asian Art galleries (rotation schedule varies)

9. Nightlife — Archibald John Motley Jr., 1943

Archibald Motley was a native Chicagoan, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute, and one of the most important artists of the Harlem Renaissance era. Nightlife pulses with the energy of a Bronzeville jazz club on a Saturday night — stylishly dressed couples dancing, a jukebox glowing in the corner, the room alive with movement and color.

Motley’s paintings celebrated the vibrancy of African American culture in Chicago at a time when that culture was rarely represented in major art institutions. Today, Nightlife is one of the Art Institute’s most beloved works, and it makes a powerful companion piece to Hopper’s Nighthawks — painted just months apart, both depicting late-night American scenes, but from vastly different worlds.

📍 Find it: Gallery 263, American Art

10. Hartwell Memorial Window — Tiffany Studios, c. 1917

The Art Institute building itself is a work of art, and the Hartwell Memorial Window proves it. This stunning stained glass masterpiece by Tiffany Studios spans 48 panels of iridescent glass in blues, greens, and golds, depicting an autumnal landscape inspired by the view from Frederick Hartwell’s family home in New Hampshire. Designed by Agnes F. Northrop (one of Tiffany’s most talented and underrecognized designers), the window transforms with the natural light throughout the day — visit in the morning and again in the afternoon if you can, and you’ll see two different windows.

📍 Find it: Grand Staircase area, second floor

11. Liz #3 — Andy Warhol, 1963

Andy Warhol made Elizabeth Taylor into pop art iconography with his Liz series, silkscreening a publicity photograph of the actress into vibrant, high-contrast compositions. Liz #3 is one of a dozen Taylor portraits Warhol created, each in different jewel-tone color schemes — this version features striking blues, greens, and reds that make Taylor’s famous violet eyes almost glow.

Warhol began the series when Taylor was seriously ill, drawn to the idea of celebrity, mortality, and the mass-produced image. It’s unmistakably Warhol — and unmistakably brilliant.

📍 Find it: Modern Wing, Contemporary Art galleries

12. Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation — Chola Period, 12th Century

This serene bronze statue from southern India’s Tamil Nadu coast is a masterwork of Chola dynasty sculpture. It comes from Nagapattinam, a coastal town where Buddhism flourished and monasteries attracted monks from as far away as China and Southeast Asia. The level of detail — the delicate hand position (the dhyanamudra, or meditation gesture), the gentle expression, the flowing robes — is extraordinary for a work nearly 900 years old.

📍 Find it: Asian Art galleries

13. Field Armor for Man and Horse — South German, Nuremberg, c. 1520

Not everything at the Art Institute hangs on a wall. This complete set of Renaissance-era plate armor — for both a knight and his horse — is one of the most visually striking displays in the museum and a huge hit with kids (and, let’s be honest, with every adult who ever played with toy knights). The armor was made in Nuremberg, Germany around 1520, as European armor was transitioning from purely functional to increasingly ornamental. The display was completed in 2017 with historically accurate recreated clothing based on period designs.

📍 Find it: The Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor

14. Hero Construction — Richard Hunt, 1958

Richard Hunt is a Chicago legend — born on the South Side, educated at the School of the Art Institute, and responsible for more public sculptures than nearly any other artist in America. He created Hero Construction just a year after graduating, assembling found objects and welded metal into a form that reimagines the ancient concept of a hero statue for the modern age. The hero here isn’t a marble god on a pedestal — it’s resilient, rough-edged, assembled from the scraps of everyday life. Very Chicago.

📍 Find it: Modern Wing, Contemporary Art galleries

15. Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash) — Kuba, Late 19th–Mid 20th Century

This intensely patterned mask from the Kuba people of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo represents the ideal woman and honors women’s roles in Kuba society — but it’s worn only by men during royal ceremonies. The mask is part of a trio that tells the origin story of the Kuba kingdom, with each character performed by a male dancer. The intricate beadwork, cowrie shells, and geometric patterns are mesmerizing up close and offer a window into one of Central Africa’s most sophisticated artistic traditions.

📍 Find it: African Art galleries

Don’t Miss These Either

If you have extra time, these artworks and collections are well worth seeking out:

Paris Street; Rainy Day (Gustave Caillebotte, 1877) — A masterpiece of perspective and one of the most elegant paintings of 19th-century Paris. Gallery 201.

Marc Chagall’s America Windows (1977) — Six luminous stained glass panels in the Arthur Rubloff building. Remember the romantic scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? This is where it was filmed.

The Thorne Miniature Rooms — 68 exquisitely detailed miniature rooms depicting European and American interiors from the 13th century to the 1940s, built at a scale of one inch to one foot. Quietly one of the most magical things in the museum.

Architectural Fragments from Chicago — An ongoing collection installation featuring salvaged ornamental elements from demolished Chicago buildings, including works by Louis Sullivan.

2026 Exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago

Beyond the permanent collection, the Art Institute always has several special exhibitions running. Here’s what’s on view and coming up in 2026 and into 2027:

Now Open

• Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost · Through November 15, 2026 — Kashmir-born, London-based artist Raqib Shaw creates intricate, jewel-like paintings that blend Eastern and Western artistic traditions.
• Carroll Dunham: Drawings, 1974–2024 · January 31–June 1, 2026 — A fifty-year survey of Dunham’s drawings, many shown publicly for the first time.
• Lucas Samaras: Sitting, Standing, Walking, Looking · January 31–July 20, 2026 — Photographs, sculptures, and paintings from the late Greek-American artist’s seven-decade career.
• H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker · Through May 17, 2026 — Work by the Chicago-based artist known for his eccentric, meticulously crafted sculptures.

Opening Soon

• Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color · March 7–June 1, 2026 — The first time Matisse’s iconic artist book Jazz (1947) will be shown in its entirety since the Art Institute acquired it in 1948. Features 20 vibrant cut-paper compositions alongside 50+ works from the museum’s Matisse collection. This is a ticketed exhibition — an additional ticket is required beyond general admission.
• Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art · March 7–July 5, 2026 — A landmark exhibition featuring 140 works from a historic donation by the family of Lee Kun-Hee (the late chairman of Samsung Group), including 22 pieces officially designated National Treasures by the Korean government. Spans from 6th-century Buddhist sculpture to contemporary paintings.
• Edgar Calel: Corn Mountain of Life · May 2–September 13, 2026 — Guatemala-born artist Edgar Calel presents a hut made from recycled materials, inspired by the practical shelters near his home.
• Willem de Kooning Drawing · June 14–September 20, 2026 — The first exhibition to explore the full scope of de Kooning’s drawing practice, featuring over 200 works spanning seven decades.

Visitor Tips: Making the Most of Your Visit

Start with the second floor. The Impressionist galleries (240s) and American Art galleries (260s) are on the second floor and contain most of the must-see masterpieces on this list. Start there, then work your way to the Modern Wing and beyond.

Thursday evenings are golden. The museum is open until 8 PM on Thursdays — after 5 PM the crowds thin out dramatically, and you can actually stand in front of Nighthawks or American Gothic without a crowd of selfie-takers between you and the canvas.

Use the Nichols Bridgeway. This pedestrian bridge connects Millennium Park directly to the third floor of the Modern Wing — it’s a gorgeous walk with skyline views and a dramatic entrance to the museum. If you’re combining your visit with time in the park, this is the way to arrive.

Recreate Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Two key scenes were filmed here — Cameron staring into Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (Gallery 240) and Sloane and Ferris in front of Chagall’s America Windows. Do the reenactment photos. Everyone does. It’s fine.

Don’t skip the gift shop. The Art Institute’s museum shops are genuinely excellent — one of the best museum stores in the country, with high-quality prints, books, jewelry, and Chicago-themed items.

More Art in Chicago

Chicago is one of the great art cities of the world — if you love what you see at the Art Institute, there are plenty more museums to explore:

• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago — Currently showing Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind (through February 22, 2026) and Dancing the Revolution (April 14–September 20, 2026).
• Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago, Hyde Park) — Free admission, always.
• Chicago Cultural Center — Free admission. Home to the world’s largest Tiffany glass dome.
• Millennium Park — Free outdoor art including Cloud Gate (the Bean), Crown Fountain, and the Pritzker Pavilion. Right next to the Art Institute.
• Museum of Science and Industry — The Pokémon Fossil Museum opens May 22, 2026 and runs through April 11, 2027.
• Field Museum — Home to SUE the T. rex and an ever-rotating slate of special exhibitions.

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About the Author

Journalist Jill Halpin is a Chicago-based travel expert who has been to the Art Institute more times than she can count and still discovers something new every visit. She’s been known to stand in front of Nighthawks for an embarrassingly long time.

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