Detroit Institute of Arts

Blue Star Museums program: FREE general museum admission to active military personnel and their families from May 30 to September 5
For groups of 15 or more visitors, please contact 313.833.1292. Group general admission for the permanent collection is $7 per person. Advance reservations are required.

Box Office
Tickets may be purchased in advance for exhibitions, programming and events through the DIA Call Center. Call 313.833.4005. For information on group tours, call 313.833.1292.

Monday through Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Detroit Film Theatre Box Office
DFT tickets may be purchased before the film at the Box Office, located at the DFT entrance on John R. For information, call 313.833.3237. Schedule

Dining at the DIA

Map of DIA current layout

About
The DIA has been a beacon of culture for the Detroit area for well over a century. Founded in 1885 as the the Detroit Museum of Art located on Jefferson Avenue, due to its rapidly expanding collection, moved to a larger site on Woodward Avenue in 1927. The new Beaux-Arts building, designed by Paul Cret, was immediately referred to as the "temple of art." Two wings were added in the 1960s and 1970s, and a major renovation and expansion that began in 1999 was completed in 2007.

The museum covers 658,000 square feet that includes more than 100 galleries, a 1,150-seat auditorium, a 380-seat lecture/recital hall, an art reference library, and a state-of-the-art conservation services laboratory.

The DIA's collection is among the top six in the United States, comprising a multicultural and multinational survey of human creativity from prehistory through the 21st century. The foundation was laid by William Valentiner, a scholar and art historian from Berlin, who was director from 1924 to 1945 . His extensive contacts in Europe, along with support from generous patrons, enabled him to acquire many important works that established the framework of today's collections. Among the notable acquisitions during his tenure are Mexican artist Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco cycle, which Rivera considered his most successful work, and Vincent van Gogh's Self Portrait, the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum collection.

A hallmark of the DIA is the diversity of the collection. In addition to outstanding American, European, Modern and Contemporary, and Graphic art, the museum holds significant works of African, Asian, Native American, Oceanic, Islamic, and Ancient art. Among these are the masterpiece sculpture Nail Figure from Zaire and a rare Korean Head of Buddha. In 2000, the DIA established the General Motors Center for African American Art as a curatorial department in order to broaden the museum's collection of African American art.

The Renovation and Reinstallation Project
A comprehensive renovation, expansion and gallery re-installation project began in 2001 and was completed in 2007. It includes a 35,000 square foot addition, additional gallery space, a new dining facility, an expanded museum shop, upgrades to the infrastructure, and an improved traffic pattern throughout the museum.

In addition to the physical changes, the museum reinstalled the galleries with a focus on the general visitor. More than 5,000 works of art are presented in a way that allows visitors to more easily make personal connections with the art and to understand the objects in the context of their own place and time.

Exhibitions:

Van Gogh’s Artistic Roots: The Hague School and French Realism
Through January 29, 2023
(more information)

Printmaking in the Twenty-First Century
Through April 9, 2023
(more information)

Conscious Response: Photographers Changing the Way We See
Through January 8, 2023
(more information)

(more information)

Events