It’s their 100th birthday year, and they’ve ramped things up to celebrate.
It’s a year of surprises. During our recent visit, we most loved the surprise party exhibit in the Fountain Court. SURPRISE! Suddenly the lights dim and there’s a disco ball sending light dancing throughout the room!
In fact, there will be a surprise every week all year long. Check them out at http://new.artsmia.org/100/.
The Surprise Party disco light show was #12 of 52. This installation by local artist Aaron Dysart is the first of several artist-designed birthday surprise projects to happen throughout the year. It’s only on view through April 19 — so you don’t want to miss it! It’s an immersive installation that, like the museum itself, only comes alive with your participation. When you pass through the room, an infrared sensor detects your movement and triggers LED lights to blast the slowly rotating 24-inch disco ball suspended from the ceiling.
SPECIAL EXHIBIT
Enticed by opulance? Fascinated by knights and fair ladies? Intrigued by how art connects and with history? Bring the family to “The Habsburgs: Rarely Seen Masterpieces from Europe’s Greatest Dynasty” exhibit there now through May 10.
It’s truly an exhibit you don’t want to miss.
This spectacular show features masterpieces and royal objects spanning nearly 600 years of world history. The majority of the artifacts — include a carriage used for 200 years! — have never been in America before.
It is the most comprehensive display yet staged for the collections from these Holy Roman Emperors, who owned palaces from Ukraine to Mexico. Gowns, rifles, suits of armor, sorbet cups, gilded knickknacks and artworks by luminaries like Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Tintoretto and Holbein have come from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Artifacts span history from the late Middle Ages through the early 20th century.
The art collections have been Austrian government property since World War I, when the empire collapsed and the dynasty was banished. As reported in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/arts/design/the-habsburgs-treasures-at-the-minneapolis-institute-of-arts.html?_r=0), Sabine Haag, general director of the Kunsthistorisches, said she was eager to lend to American institutions, partly because after World War II, United States soldiers made sure that the Kunsthistorisches received back what Nazis had stolen.
“This tour is a late thank you gesture to the Americans, who helped us rescue everything,” she said. Haag hopes this will inspire visitors to make the trip to Vienna to see the collection in person and to discover even more of the treasures.
The exhibition next heads next to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and then the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
Give the kiddos an idea of what to expect by scrolling through the online timeline. Using pictures and short stories, it connects the Habsburgs with what was going on in the world over the course of 600 years. Remember Spain’s Queen Isabella I of Castille, the one who sponsored Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the New World? Her children married two of the Habsburgs, Philip and Margaret, which led to the Habsburgs ruling Spain for 200 years. Inbreeding eventually led to a lack of sons, and they lost Spain.
I learned so much about history by walking through this exhibit and reading through things.
- Historical highlight: Maria Theresa — the sole female Habsburg ruler, who reigned for a remarkable 40 years beginning in 1740. Because her father had only girls, he finagled things so that a daughter could rule.
- Painting highlight: The Four Elements by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. He was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books. His artwork looks modern, but was made 400 years earlier!
-Clothing highlight: The ceremonial dress of Crown Prince Otto as a child that he wore for the Hungarian Coronation in 1916, just two short years before 600 years of sovereignty came to an end with the close of World War I. My 2-year-old was fascinated by its small size.
DON’T MISS THE FUN
There are a number of fun activities for kiddos.
Be sure to don a robe and snap a photo near the “carriage.”
Make your own family crest.
Be inspired by Arcimboldo and move magnets so that they resemble portraits.
IF YOU GO
Reserve Tickets for the special exhibit: $20 Adult / $16 MIA members
Regular admission: Free every day
Address: 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis
