Smart Museum of Art

Scroll ➡️ to experience the entirety of Theaster Gates’s site-specific installation “African Still Life #3: A Tribute to Patric McCoy and Marva Jolly,” part of the Smart’s “Threshold” lobby series. While our main galleries remained closed for installation of our spring exhibitions (opening March 24 + 29), Gates’s lobby installation remains open to the public during the Museum’s standard hours, Tues. - Sun. 10 am - 4:30 pm. Stop in for a meditative moment or take expansive time with the largescale expanse of the artist’s ongoing investigation of rituals of accumulation, redemption, and relational aesthetics. This exhibition is made possible by Northern Trust (@northerntrustcompany ) and the Terra Foundation for American Art (@terraamericanart ). 📸: Sara Pooley

The Smart Museum of Art will present “Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart,” in collaboration with the Center for the Art of East Asia. Opening March 29, 2026, with an opening reception on March 28, 2026, “Beyond Boundaries” foregrounds the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s. In February 1999, Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Chinese Art History at the university, opened his first exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art. Entitled “Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century” (1999), the exhibition - and many more Wu curated in the ensuing years - was field-defining and forged new avenues for situating Chinese art within a broader global contemporary framework. Taking these earlier exhibitions as points of departure, the exhibition at the Smart reflects on the enduring adaptability of contemporary art from China as it continues to grow within and beyond cultural and academic institutions. Bringing together artworks acquired by the Museum over the last three decades, archival materials, ephemera, as well as new work “Beyond Boundaries” explores how artists navigate and challenge physical limitations across cultural, environmental, and political terrains. Support for the exhibition is provided by Markovitz Family Foundation for the Arts and Education. Additional support is provided by the Smart Museum’s Board of Governors, and SmartPartners. IMAGE: Image: Wang Wei, “1/30th of a Second Underwater,” 1999, chromogenic transparencies on translucent polyester base. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Purchase, Gift of Carl Rungius, by exchange, 2001.121d ©Wang Wei

The Smart Museum of Art will present "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas," organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Opening March 24, 2026, with an opening reception on March 28, 2026, the exhibition draws on the extensive holdings of the artist's paintings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and offers an intimate view of Thomas's evolving practice during her most prolific period, from 1959 to 1978. At a deeply politicized moment in American life, Thomas's abiding sources of inspiration became the cosmos, nature, and music. As she stated, "Through color I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man's inhumanity to man." "Composing Color" invites visitors to see the world through the eyes of Alma Thomas with interactive art making within the gallery, curated playlist, and Family Day programming inspired by the artist's colorful art style. "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas" is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Chris G. Harris, the Wolf Kahn Foundation, and Susan Talley. Support for the Smart's presentation of "Composing Color" is provided by Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson, and an anonymous donor. Additional support is provided by the Smart Museum's Board of Governors, and SmartPartners.

Yesterday, Ross Gay and Angel Bat Dawid provided us with a meditative response and exercise to Alma Thomas’s work on view at the Smart through poetry and music 🎨🎶 Up next in free programming: Family Day: Games on the Go Tomorrow, May 15 | 11 am - 2 pm Astronaut Nicole Stott with Sarah & Joseph Belknap on the Cosmos Monday, May 18 | 5:00 - 6:30 pm Smart Salon: Contemporary Chinese Artists in Chicago Tuesday, May 19 | 5:00 - 6:30 pm

A deeper look at the meanings behind the title and inspiration of Alma Thomas's "Snoopy Sees the Earth Wrapped in Sunset" (1970), now on view at the Smart. Join us TODAY for an in-gallery conversation from 12:30 - 1:00 pm on the artwork with Professor Jordan Bimm and Adler Planetarium Curator and Director of Collections Katie Boyce-Jacino. This is a free, drop-in program. In Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset, Thomas’s reverence for the beauty of living things expands to a planetary scale. Captivated by astronauts’ accounts of seeing Earth from outer space, Thomas portrayed our planet enlivened by the reflected light of the sun. “Snoopy” was the nickname for the Apollo 8 lunar module, a reference to the Peanuts comic strip character (who was also a NASA mascot) and the module’s job of flying around the moon to “snoop” for a promising landing site. Thomas would likely have seen the widely circulated photograph taken from “Snoopy” as it orbited the moon. Known as Earthrise, the image shows a partly illuminated, vibrant Earth as it rises above the surface of the moon. IMAGES: [1] TOP: Installation view, "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas" from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2026. Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago. Photo by Michael Tropea. BOTTOM: Bill Anders, "Earthrise," a view of the Earth seen from the Apollo 8 lunar module, December 24, 1968. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [2] Snoopy, the Artemis 1 zero gravity indicator in 2022, is seen inside the Orion spacecraft in this photo taken before launch. (NASA) [3] Alma Thomas, "Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset," 1970, acrylic on canvas, 47 7 ⁄ 8 x 47 7 ⁄ 8 in. (121.6 x 121.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.4 [4] Apollo 10 Lunar Module, nicknamed "Snoopy" Ascends. Seen from the command module, named “Charlie Brown," 1969. (NASA) [5] Replicas of Snoopy and Charlie Brown decorate the top of console in Mission Control Center, 1969. (NASA)

On May 19th at the Smart, Ellen Larson, Associate Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia, will moderate a conversation contemporary Chinese artists in Chicago. Featuring artists magicfeifei, Miao Wang, Linye Jiang, and gallerist Qiuchen Wu. -- Smart Salon: Contemporary Chinese Artists in Chicago Tuesday, May 19 5:00 - 6:30 pm at the Smart, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Chicago-based artists and cultural producers Magicfeifei, Linye Jiang, Miao Wang, and Qiuchen Wu join Center for the Arts of East Asia Associate Director Ellen Larson in conversation. Anchored in UChicago's long-standing role in shaping the study and exhibition of Chinese art, the discussion considers how artistic practices circulate between China and global institutions. Participants explore how artists and curators mobilize China not as a fixed geography, but as a critical lens that generates new ways of thinking across media, histories, and transnational networks. This program is presented in conjunction with "Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart," and in collaboration with the Center for the Art of East Asia @uchicagocarteasia Free: RSVP is encouraged.

On May 18 at the Smart, join us for a conversation at the intersection of art, science, and imagination, featuring astronaut Nicole Stott in dialogue with artists Sarah and Joseph Belknap. -- Nicole Stott with Sarah & Joseph Belknap on the Cosmos Monday, May 18 5:00 - 6:30 pm at the Smart, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Centered around the paintings of Alma Thomas and the culture of the first missions to outer space, this program explores how images shape both collective imagination and personal perception. Together, the speakers will reflect on awe and wonder as catalysts for discovery, and on how encounters with beauty, whether in a painting or from orbit, can transform how we see our world and our place within it. Free: RSVP is encouraged. -- Nicole Stott is an astronaut, aquanaut, engineer, artist, author of Back to Earth: What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It; and most importantly a mom. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. Nicole is a veteran NASA Astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days in space as a crewmember on both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. Personal highlights of her time in space include being the 10th woman to perform a spacewalk, first person to operate the ISS robotic arm to capture a free-flying cargo vehicle, first to paint a watercolor in space, working with her international crew for the benefit of all life on Earth, and of course the life-changing view of our planetary home. -- Sarah and Joseph Belknap are partners, interdisciplinary artists and educators. Stretching and playing with pareidolia and mythology, their work draws on the cosmos, deep time, science, and speculative fiction. They work across space and materials - combining photography, sculpture, film, drawing, and anything else that they want to play with because they are always learning. Aside from their studio practice, they run a free garden each spring and take as many trips to the woods as they can.

"Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas" from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is narratively structured through Alma Thomas's deep interests in the cosmos, earth, and music 🎨 Take a closer look at the artist's music influence—all on view now at the Smart. In relation to music, and its deep links with nature and poetry, join us this Thursday for an evening with Poet Ross Gay and composer and multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid inspired by Alma Thomas. Program Details (Free; RSVP Encouraged): Ross Gay & Angel Bat Dawid on Poetry Thursday, May 14 5:00 - 6:30 pm at the Smart, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. -- Thomas loved music and often listened to the radio or played albums and mixtapes as she worked. Her selections were eclectic, ranging from rhythm and blues to the soundtrack for "2001: A Space Odyssey." Well-versed in the theory of how colors interact, she was attentive to the interconnections between musical and visual art—how, in each, compositional elements are put in sequence and contrast to create harmony, melody, balance, and rhythm. Thomas also spoke of music and nature as linked. In a 1966 letter to artist Gene Davis, she wrote, “Your paintings give not only the feeling of listening to an outstanding orchestra or symphony, but the joy of Nature’s World of Color.” Thomas often assigned titles to her own paintings that connect natural phenomena, like flowers or a sunset, with song. In her art, nature and music are treated as twin expressions of a fundamental life force or spirit -- IMAGES: [2] Alma Thomas, "Grassy Melodic Chant," 1976, acrylic on canvas, 46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.5 [4] Alma Thomas, "Untitled (Music Series)," 1978, acrylic on canvas, 71 5 ⁄ 8 x 52 in. (182.0 x 132.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.5 [5] Alma Thomas, "White Roses Sing and Sing", 1976, acrylic on canvas, 72 1/2 x 52 3/8 in. (184.1 x 133.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.3

On Friday, May 15th, from 12:30 - 1:00 pm: Join us for a discussion on Alma Thomas's "Snoopy Sees the Earth Wrapped in Sunset" (1970), on view now at the Smart and pictured here. Professor Jordan Bimm and Adler Planetarium Curator and Director of Collections Katie Boyce-Jacino will present and engage in dialogue. This is a free drop-in program, located in front of the artwork within the galleries at the Smart Museum of Art. -- Conversation Piece: On Alma Thomas’s "Snoopy Sees the Earth Wrapped in Sunset" (1970) Friday, May 15 12:30 - 1:00 pm at the Smart Museum of Art; West Gallery -- IMAGE: Alma Thomas, "Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset," 1970, acrylic on canvas, 47 7 ⁄ 8 x 47 7 ⁄ 8 in. (121.6 x 121.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.4

A spotlight on photographer Lewis Wickes Hine, his photograph on view in the exhibition "Wise to Power," and subsequent artwork from the Smart's permanent collection. -- Lewis Wickes Hine had worked in a factory in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before coming to study at the University of Chicago for one year. In 1908, he became a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), documenting abuses in factories and sweatshops. The photographer spent the next decade traveling over 50,000 miles gathering “photographic proof” of child labor conditions throughout the United States. He is best known for his photographs of children working in factories, mines, and mills that were widely printed in pamphlets, magazines, books, slide lectures, and traveling exhibits. Hine’s photographs of child laborers varied from haunting individual portraits and candid scenes, to staged group shots, like the photograph on view in "Wise to Power," that better portrayed the large number of young people working at a given establishment. Throughout, Hine’s photographs establish a sense of empathy between the viewer and the subjects. Many of the photographs were accompanied by full details about the children pictured, their working conditions, and their wages. -- See the first pictured image, "Untitled [Boys working in Brazos Valley Cotton Mills in West, Texas]," on view in the Smart's back galleries. Want to dive deeper into our current exhibitions with context and connections like this one? Stay tuned for the Smart's interactive exhibition guides on Bloomberg Connects. -- IMAGES: [1]: Lewis Wickes Hine, "Untitled [Boys working in Brazos Valley Cotton Mills in West, Texas]," 1913, gelatin silver print. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. Gift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman, 2014.396 [2]: Lewis Wickes Hine, "Newsies," 1910, gelatin silver print. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. Gift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman, 2014.397 [3]: Lewis Wickes Hine, "Children carrying wooden poles," circa 1910, gelatin silver print. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. Gift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman, 2014.395

On May 14 at the Smart, Poet Ross Gay and composer and multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid will host an evening of creative exchange inspired by the vibrant abstractions of Alma Thomas. -- Ross Gay & Angel Bat Dawid on Poetry Thursday, May 14 5:00 - 6:30 pm at the Smart, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Opening with a call-and-response, Gay will read a poem inspired by Thomas’s work, followed by Bat Dawid’s improvisational musical reply—an unfolding dialogue that moves between language, sound, and sensation. From this shared beginning, the artists will expand into conversation, reflecting on how Thomas’s use of color, pattern, and movement resonates across poetry and music, and how her work continues to shape contemporary practices rooted in joy, improvisation, and the natural world Free: RSVP is encouraged. -- Ross Gay is a poet whose writing considers everyday life, relationships, and the natural world, within the rich spectrum of emotional experience. Angel Bat Dawid is a composer, clarinetist, and vocalist. Her improvisational practice blends jazz, spiritual traditions, and experimental sound. --

On May 12 at the Smart, Artist Olga Alexopoulou and Smart Museum Dana Feitler Director Vanja Malloy will discuss the history and future of color. -- Olga Alexopoulou & Vanja Malloy on Quantum Color Tuesday, May 12 5:00 - 6:30 pm at the Smart, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Taking inspiration from the vibrant abstractions of Alma Thomas, the program traces color as both material and meaning, from historical uses in art and science to the most cutting-edge advancements in pigment today. Alexopoulou and Malloy explore how artists and scientists shape one another’s work, and how new collaborations can expand the possibilities of both. Free; RSVP is encouraged. -- Olga Alexopoulou is an artist whose pioneering work bridges art and nanoscience, including the development of a quantum blue pigment in UChicago President Paul Alivisatos’s lab at UC Berkeley and her current work launching Quantum Light, a company advancing next-generation red and blue quantum pigments. Vanja Malloy is Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum of Art whose work centers interdisciplinary inquiry, bringing artists, scholars, and publics into dialogue around urgent questions in art and society.