Museum of Art Cedar Rapids, Art museum in downtown Cedar Rapids, United States.
The Museum of Art Cedar Rapids is an art museum in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, devoted to regional and contemporary works displayed across several gallery rooms. The building sits along the Cedar River and its galleries hold paintings, sculptures, and installations from different periods and styles.
The museum was founded in 1905, making it one of the oldest art institutions in the Midwest. In 1989 it moved into a purpose-built building along the Cedar River, which gave the collection far more room than the previous location had.
The museum holds the largest collection of Grant Wood works in the world, by an artist born in the Cedar Rapids area whose paintings show scenes of rural Midwestern life. Walking through the galleries, visitors can see how these images of local landscapes and people are still treated by the city as a living part of its own story.
The museum is generally closed on Mondays, so it is worth checking current hours before visiting since times can shift around special exhibitions. The building is in the center of town and easy to reach on foot from the riverfront, and most visitors find that half a day is enough to see the main galleries.
In 2002 the museum acquired Grant Wood's original studio at 5 Turner Alley, a short walk away, and opens it for guided tours on weekends. The artist lived and worked in this small attic space for several years and created some of his most recognizable paintings there.
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