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The growth of the collection has warranted several additions to the museum's 1893 building, which was constructed for the [[World's Columbian Exposition]]. The most recent expansion, the Modern Wing designed by [[Renzo Piano]], opened in 2009 and increased the museum's footprint to nearly one million square feet, making it the [[List of largest art museums in the world|second-largest]] art museum in the United States, after the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref name="secondlargest">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/arts/design/14inst.html?ref=design| title=A Grand and Intimate Modern Art Trove| date=May 13, 2009| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| first=Roberta| last=Smith| access-date=2011-06-13}}</ref> The Art Institute is associated with the [[School of the Art Institute of Chicago]], a leading art school, making it one of the few remaining unified arts institutions in the United States.
In 2017, the Art Institute received 1,619,316 visitors, and was the 35th [[List of most-visited art museums|most-visited art museum in the world]].<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Art Newspaper| title= Exhibition and Museum Visitor Figures 2017| url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/03/26/arts-most-popular-exhibition-and-museum-visitor-figures-2017| date=March 26, 2018| access-date=2021-10-11}}</ref>
==History==
===19th century===
[[File:Art Institute 1893.gif|thumb|
In 1866, a group of 35 artists founded the '''Chicago Academy of Design''' in a studio on Dearborn Street, with the intent to run a free school with its own art gallery. The organization was modeled after European art academies, such as the [[Royal Academy]], with Academicians and Associate Academicians. The academy's charter was granted in March 1867.
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When the [[Great Chicago Fire]] destroyed the building in 1871 the academy was thrown into debt. Attempts to continue despite the loss by using rented facilities failed. By 1878, the academy was $10,000 in debt. Members tried to rescue the ailing institution by making deals with local businessmen, before some finally abandoned it in 1879 to found a new organization, named the '''Chicago Academy of Fine Arts'''. When the Chicago Academy of Design went bankrupt the same year, the new Chicago Academy of Fine Arts bought its assets at auction.
▲[[File:Art Institute 1893.gif|thumb|left|This 1893 sketch of the then new Art Institute of Chicago shows most of today's [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] still submerged under Lake Michigan, with the railroad tracks running along the shoreline behind the Museum]]
In 1882, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts changed its name to the current '''Art Institute of Chicago''' and elected as its first president the banker and philanthropist [[Charles L. Hutchinson]], who "is arguably the single most important individual to have shaped the direction and fortunes of the Art Institute of Chicago".<ref name="Hilliard"/>{{rp|5}} Hutchinson was a director of many prominent Chicago organizations, including the [[University of Chicago]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=Few Changes Made - University of Chicago Trustees Hold an Election - Two Vacancies Filled - Other Members Whose Terms Expired Re-Elected - Examinations for Positions as Teachers in the Public Schools of the City| journal=The Daily Inter-Ocean| date=June 28, 1893| page=1}}</ref> and would transform the Art Institute into a world-class museum during his presidency, which he held until his death in 1924.<ref>{{cite book| title=Art Institute of Chicago| work=Encyclopedia of Chicago| url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/79.html| author=Dillon, Diane| publisher=The Newberry Library| date=September 18, 2004| access-date=2015-07-24}}</ref> Also in 1882, the organization purchased a lot on the southwest corner of [[Michigan Avenue (Chicago)|Michigan Avenue]] and Van Buren Street for $45,000. The existing commercial building on that property was used for the organization's headquarters, and a new addition was constructed behind it to provide gallery space and to house the school's facilities.<ref name="Hilliard">{{cite book| title="The Prime Mover" - Charles L. Hutchinson and the making of the Art Institute of Chicago| publisher=The Art Institute of Chicago | last=Hilliard| first=Celia| year=2010| location=Chicago| isbn=978-086559-238-4}}</ref>{{rp|19}} By January 1885 the trustees recognized the need to provide additional space for the organization's growing collection, and to this end purchased the vacant lot directly south on Michigan Avenue. The commercial building was demolished,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Art Institute – The Western Art Movement and its Splendid Achievements in Chicago – The New Home of the Fine Arts – The Ward Collection – The Century, Harper's - The Formal Opening of the New Museum – The Loan Collection – A Noble Triumph| journal=The (Chicago) Inter Ocean| volume=XVI| issue=239| date=November 20, 1887 |page=9}}</ref> and the noted architect [[John Wellborn Root]] was hired by Hutchinson to design a building that would create an "impressive presence" on Michigan Avenue,<ref name="Hilliard"/>{{rp|22–23}} and these facilities opened to great fanfare in 1887.<ref name="Hilliard"/>{{rp|24}}
With the announcement of the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] to be held in 1892–93, the Art Institute pressed for a building on the lakefront to be constructed for the fair, but to be used by the institute afterwards. The city agreed, and the building was completed in time for the second year of the fair. Construction costs were met by selling the Michigan/Van Buren property. On October 31, 1893, the institute moved into the new building. For the opening reception on December 8, 1893, [[Theodore Thomas (conductor)|Theodore Thomas]] and the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] performed.
===20th century===
From the early 1900s to the 1960s the school offered with the Logan Family (members of the board) the [[Logan Medal of the Arts]], an award which became one of the most distinguished awards presented to artists in the
As director of the museum starting in the early 1980s, [[James N. Wood]] conducted a major expansion of its collection and oversaw a major renovation and expansion project for its facilities. As "one of the most respected museum leaders in the country", as described by ''[[The New York Times]]'', Wood created major exhibitions of works by [[Paul Gauguin]], [[Claude Monet]], and [[Vincent van Gogh]] that set records for attendance at the museum. He retired from the museum in 2004.<ref>Kennedy, Randy (June 14, 2010). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/arts/design/15wood.html "James N. Wood, President of the Getty Trust, Dies at 69"]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2010-06-21.</ref>
===21st century===
The institute began construction of "The Modern Wing", an addition situated on the southwest corner of Columbus and Monroe in the early 21st century.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0505310147may31-story.html| title=Art Institute to Add New Wing| last=Kamin| first=Blair| newspaper=Chicago Tribune| date=May 31, 2005| access-date=2021-01-29| language=en-US| url-access=subscription}}</ref> The project, designed by [[Pritzker Prize]]–winning architect [[Renzo Piano]], was completed and officially opened to the public on May 16, 2009. The {{convert|264000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} building addition made the Art Institute the second-largest art museum in the United States. The building houses the museum's world-renowned collections of 20th and 21st century art, specifically modern European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture and design, and photography. In its inaugural survey in 2014, travel review website and forum, [[Tripadvisor]], reviewed millions of travelers' surveys and named the Art Institute the world's best museum.<ref>{{cite magazine| title=These Are the 25 Best Museums in the World |url=http://time.com/3393565/best-museums-trip-advisor| last=Grossman| first=Samantha| magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| date=September 18, 2014| access-date=2014-09-19}}</ref>
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