Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, United States

5Karol_paris 5:00 PM Nov 6, 2022

Don't miss Van Gogh - and the rest
We didn't have enough time to do the museum justice, but it's clearly one of the best in the US. The medieval Europe collection is wonderful and is displayed in a room evidently built for it, with the feel of a Gothic church or castle. The whole museum has superb architecture and of course the Diego Rivera frescoes which I never tire of contemplating. We did spend our time in the temporary exhibit on "Van Gogh in America" which was wonderful (I'm running out of superlative adjectives), lots of details I didn't know. The museum shop went all out in proposing Van Gogh memorabilia of every imaginable kind, I would have bought much more had I not had to fit it in my suitcase!

5jpete02 5:00 PM Jul 24, 2020

A treasure for Detroit
First visit to the DIA with my seven year old daughter and found it a surprisingly good experience for a young kid. This was her first visit to an art museum. Kids have a different perspective on art and it is fun to hear what they think. Limited my visit to two hours and just went into the galleries that interested my daughter. We made it through about half the museum’s galleries. If you want to see everything, it is probably going to take 4 to 6 hours. This is one of the top art museums in the country and probably only behind the Art Institute of Chicago in the Midwest. As for my daughter, she liked the Ancient Egyptian gallery, the Diego Riviera Detroit Industry frescoes, and the European impressionist gallery the best. This museum has a nice collection of impression paintings on display including 4 Van Gogh paintings and his self portrait. In July of 2020, due to Covid, there was free admission for everyone but there was hardly anyone in the museum on a Friday afternoon, so no worries about being in a too crowded situation. Everyone was wearing masks and there were hand sanitizer stations throughout the museum. The only entrance right now is off Farnsworth (South side of building) and you have to exit out the back. There are directional arrows on the floor to keep people moving in a consistent direction. There is a large surface parking lot behind the museum and you can park for $7 for all day but there is also metered on the street parking around the museum as well. The old city owned underground garage is closed permanently. Area around the museum is very safe and walkable. Although the streetcar is not running due to Covid, a really interesting drive is to start downtown and drive out on Woodward to the museum. Takes about ten minutes and you can see all of the revitalization in the area.