Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will present a new exhibition, "Highlights from the Modern Collection," beginning August 8. The exhibition aims to maintain public access to key works while the museum’s modern art galleries are closed for renovations. The modern wing is set to reopen in 2026.

The temporary show will be located near Rivera Court and includes pieces by artists such as Paul Cezanne, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Pablo Picasso. Salvador Salort-Pons, Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, said, “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. 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 will be displayed in a salon-style arrangement designed to maximize wall space. The selection features movements like impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, German expressionism, and abstraction. Included are works by Francis Bacon, Maria Blanchard, Mary Cassatt, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Diego Rivera, Auguste Rodin, John Sloan, and Vincent van Gogh.

The exhibition spans three galleries—two with European art and one focused on art from the Americas—highlighting changes in artistic practice from the 1880s through the 1960s across Europe, the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

Earlier this year, certain galleries at DIA were temporarily closed for planned interior upgrades. All spaces are expected to reopen within two years as part of efforts to improve visitor experience. In addition to this exhibition, new African American art galleries are scheduled to open in October 2025 near Rivera Court.