Treasured works from the Detroit Institute of Arts will be on display in a new highlights exhibition, ensuring continued public access to artistic masterpieces while the museum’s modern galleries undergo a major reimagination and transformation.
“Highlights from the Modern Collection,” opening Friday, Aug. 8, will offer visitors new ways to experience familiar favorites while the modern art wing is temporarily closed for long-planned gallery improvements. The modern art galleries are scheduled to reopen in 2026.
The limited-time exhibition will showcase pieces by renowned artists, including Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Pablo Picasso in a temporary location adjacent to the Rivera Court.
“The DIA remains committed to providing uninterrupted access to art that has shaped our cultural understanding and continues to inspire new generations of museum visitors,” says Salvador Salort-Pons, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
“This temporary exhibition illuminates some of the treasures of the DIA’s modern art collection, before we bring them to their new home in the newly transformed modern art wing next year.”
More than 65 works from the DIA’s celebrated modern art collection will be presented in a floor-to-ceiling salon style to maximize wall space, featuring pieces that represent movements like impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, German expressionism, and abstraction.
Other rarely seen works of art will share the spotlight, including pieces by Francis Bacon, Maria Blanchard, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Auguste Rodin, John Sloan, and Vincent van Gogh, among others.
Spanning three galleries — two focused primarily on European art and one on art of the Americas — the presentation reflects the profound transformations that reshaped the modern art world, especially across Europe, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, between the 1880s and 1960s.
Each of the works showcase artists responding to a rapidly evolving world through themes, content, and artistic style.
Earlier this year, the DIA closed select galleries and other public spaces temporarily to accommodate the long-planned interior transformation.
All galleries will reopen over the next two years, with a goal to enhance the experience for all visitors. The museum has already announced plans to open new African American art galleries in October 2025, adjacent to the Rivera Court.
The DIA is open Tuesday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, visit DIA.org.
