Right now we are all going to dive deep into art in Chicago and our opening section will fully cover the best art galleries and museums near you.
After that we will get into a variety of other topics like art supply stores, events, festivals, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, local sculptures and statues, art classes, studios for rent, and the top frame shops in your area.
If you are after any specific section you can jump straight to it using the table of contents on the left and we are also including a Chicago art map with all of the various places we mention throughout the post pinned on it. And if you want to read more about the top galleries and museums around the Midwest you can do so right there.
Best Art Galleries & Museums In Chicago
When you want to see some of the top exhibits in the country the best Chicago art galleries and museums are a good place to start:
Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors attend free public programs including music, dance, theater, films, lectures, art exhibitions, and family events at the Chicago Cultural Center which is home to the world’s largest Tiffany-stained glass dome and entry is always free from 10am to 5pm daily.
The Depaul Art Museum is also free to enter and hosts three to five temporary exhibitions per year with a permanent collection of about 3,500 pieces including works by Hector Duarte. They are closed on Monday and Tuesday but are open from 11am to 7pm Wednesday and Thursday and from 11am to 5pm Friday through Sunday.
The Smart Museum of Art is free and open to the public from 10am to 5pm every day except Monday when they are closed and Thursday when they stay open until 8pm. You will be able to check out over 16,000 pieces and a range of programming including free family programs every month.
The National Museum of Mexican Art houses roughly 11,000 items and provides free admission every day and a range of events like local art workshops, after school programs, summer classes, and special events. They also throw the Annual Sor Juana Festival in September and the Folk-Art Festival in October and you can visit them from 10am to 5pm throughout the week with the exception of Monday when they are closed.
Vertical Gallery, Aspect/Ratio and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery all offer artwork for sale.
The Catherine Edelman Gallery is open from 10am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Saturday and also hosts the free to enter Art Speaks program every second Saturday from 12pm to 1pm.
There are monthly rotating exhibitions at Carl Hammer Gallery which is open from 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and who also specializes in fine arts appraising, collection development and curation, art consultation and installation, framing, and art loans.
The Naperville Art League is open to the public from 10am to 5pm Tuesday through Friday and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday offering art classes in a variety of mediums for students of all ages and ability levels in addition to workshops, demos, and regular exhibits. They have a public art competition called In Focus each October and host the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair each September.
Head to the Side Street Studio Arts on the third Wednesday of each month or in October for their Something Wicked event. They also provide free workshops, educational classes, and a number of other programs on Saturday from noon to 6pm and Sunday from 11am to 3pm.
Materials & Supplies Near You
The best stores to buy art supplies and materials in your area would be:
The Millennium Art Festival is a three-day weekend art and design festival held in the heart of downtown that showcases the talents of more than 110 juried artists.
The Wells Street Art Festival is held on the second full weekend of August in Old Town’s famed Wells Street area featuring 125-plus juried artists from the region and throughout the country. Expect to find tasty cuisine from the neighborhood’s eclectic restaurants and cool musical performances along with kids’ art activities that help the event attract an estimated 50,000 guests each year.
The National Museum of Mexican Art hosts the annual Sor Juana Festival which honors one of Mexico’s best writers, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The event has included over 20 high-profile artists and is held at the National Museum of Mexican Art in September.
The Naperville Art League hosts the annual Riverwalk Fine Art Fair in September on the famous Riverwalk and downtown city streets in Naperville. Over 65,000 people attend this two-day event which features a juried exhibition where the best of show receives a $1,000 cash prize.
We just mentioned them but The National Museum of Mexican Art also hosts the Folk Art Festival whichfeatures Mexico’s finest folk artists, live demonstrations, and an early start on holiday shopping. This festival will feature artists from all throughout Mexico who will bring their own unique techniques and folk artwork.
On the 2nd Friday of each month you can visit the creative maker spaces of the Chicago Arts District on South Halsted Street. You’ll enjoy an exciting showcase as this creative group opens their otherwise private spaces and invites you in for a unique experience.
Art Dealers & Appraisers
You can buy new works or find out how much something is worth by contacting these local art dealers and appraisers:
Chicago Art Source sells works in a range of media and represents over 100 diverse artists from all over the world. Professional advisors, acquisitions, commission management, fine art publishing liaisons, and in-house delivery and installation are among the services they offer.
Alice Adam Ltd. is a private art dealer in Chicago that specializes in significant German Expressionist prints and drawings.
Degroot Fine Art offers both corporate and private clients extensive consulting and advisory services in addition to acquisition and deaccessioning, fine art storage, fine appraisal, and short-term lending.
Vertical Gallery, Aspect/Ratio, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery and Naperville Art League from the best galleries near you list also sell works.
Walking Tours
When the weather is nice try one of these Chicago art walking tours:
Noble Private Art Tours provides captivating views of the local art scene through private and group tours to museums, galleries, and other places around the region.
Art Smart Tours provides personalized and private tours and are masters at combining must-see attractions with hand-picked hidden gems to create a one-of-a-kind experience tailored to your preferences. They can also help with art acquisition and gallery shopping after the tour.
Sculptures & Statues
There are some really nice sculptures and statues in your area like:
Untitled by Picasso at 50 W Washington St
Agora at 1135 S Michigan Ave
Monument with Standing Beast at 100 W Randolph St
Statue of the Republic at 6401 S Stony Island Ave
Cloud Gate at 201 E Randolph St
Skylanding Sculpture at 6033-6263 S Cornell Dr
Fountain of Time at 6000 S Cottage Grove Ave
Untitled by Picasso was unveiled on August 15, 1967 and may be seen today at the Daley Plaza.
The Agora can be found on Grant Park’s southwest side after the artist Magdalena Abakanowicz began making these enormous headless sculptures in the 1970’s.
The James R. Thompson Center is home to the Monument with Standing Beast by Jean Dubuffet.
The Republic statue was created by Daniel Chester French and installed in 1918 within Jackson Park.
Cloud Gate is Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work in the United States which you can find in Millennium Park today. The 66-foot-long by 33-foot-high sculpture is one of the world’s largest of its kind.
Sky Landing was added to Jackson Park in 2016 by acclaimed artist Yoko Ono.
Lorado Taft designed the Fountain of Time in 1910, it was dedicated in 1922, and currently you can check it out on the western edge of the Midway Plaisance in Washington Park.
Chicago Art Classes
Whether you trying to find lessons for kids or are an adult who wants to grow your skills taking classes at one of these local art schools should help:
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private university that was established in 1866. Graduate, post-baccalaureate, and undergraduate programs are available and it provides free public events including artist visiting programs with today’s most influential practitioners and thinkers.
Lillstreet Art Center has art classes and workshops for people of all ages and skill levels. They provide camps, seasonal and family workshops for children and babies, as well as first-time artist sessions that let beginners experience a new medium in a relaxed environment. They also organize parties in a number of mediums for everything from birthdays to bachelorette parties.
Palette & Chisel Art Academy provides full-time, part-time, and personalized art classes in addition to non-instructed open studio sessions with live models and multi-day workshops with guest creators.
Art classes for people of all ages are available at Pinot’s Palette from beginners to advanced with in-studio painting, night lessons, take-home painting kits, and private parties.
Young Rembrandts is a weekly after-school art class for children ages 3.5 to 12 with themed workshops, art camps, and on-demand drawing classes for families who prefer a more flexible schedule.
You can also try art classes in your area at The National Museum of Mexican Art, Naperville Art League, and Side Street Studio Arts.
Studios For Rent Near You
These art studios are great places to get the ball rolling on your next project:
Artists Frame Service has three locations with one each in Lincoln Park, River North, and Highland Park. They also provide art consulting services and bulk framing for a variety of clients ranging from sports stadiums to multi-national corporations.
Seaberg Picture Framing specializes in custom hardware, shadow boxes, vitrines or acrylic cases, and float mounts while they also do art crating, delivery, and installation services in addition to custom framing.
Art & Frame Naperville has been serving consumers from Naperville, Aurora, Warrenville, Lisle, and the surrounding areas for over 30 years.
Carl Hammer Gallery Lake View Art Supply, Blick Art Materials, Michaels, Artistic Framing & Supplies, and Hobby Lobby can also do quality custom framing near you.
For the time being that is all we have to share about the art scene near you. After reading about all of those local galleries, museums, events, shows, supply stores, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, sculptures, classes, studios, and framers in your area hopefully we satisfied your queries.
It would be great if you could use the comments section to let us know if anything on this page is dated, or if any info is not correct. We hope you enjoy your time at the best Chicago Art Galleries, Museums, Supply Stores or doing whatever else you plan to do with the info.
This post and all of the posts on our site are edited by Dan Soloman who has been a huge fan of art since he was a little kid. His mother was a good local artist, and she taught him the trade from a very early age. He studied art and its history in both high school and college, has worked at multiple galleries, and recently has begun creating and editing online content for this site and some other online media platforms.
