(Brenna Hernandez / Shedd Aquarium)

If you’re seeking activities that don’t break the bank this winter, look no further than local museums, zoos and gardens. A number have announced free admission days in 2024.

© 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Even an artistic genius gets by with a little help from his friends. “Picasso: Drawing from Life” spotlights the artist’s works on paper and explores the influence of friends, muses, fellow artists and dealers.

A scene from the Neapolitan crèche at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

Ten years ago this month, a spectacular Nativity set called a crèche debuted at the Art Institute of Chicago. A gift from an Italian collector, the crèche was made in Naples and dates from the mid-1700s. It’s a traditional Nativity scene in a non-traditional setting.

(Courtesy of The Old Joliet Haunted Prison)

Find your own darn pumpkin patches and corn mazes. This is a list for adults who love the spooky season just as much as those costumed kids with their candy bags.

“Science Fictions” runs through Nov. 27 at the Art Institute of Chicago. (WTTW News)

Strange people occupy fantastic places in a new exhibition of art by Remedios Varo at the Art Institute of Chicago. The 20th century surrealist painter’s work is well known in Mexico but rarely seen in the U.S.

South lion at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Heather Paul / Flickr)

Art Institute of Chicago Workers United was the first in a unionization wave that’s swept across local museums and cultural institutions.

(WTTW News)

The star attraction is Vincent Van Gogh, and he has a stellar supporting cast — including the painters George Seurat, Paul Signac, Emile Bernard and Charles Angrand. The exhibit features landscapes from the suburbs of Paris in the 19th century.

Kwame Brathwaite’s work is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago until July 24. (WTTW News)

From Stevie Wonder and high-fashion models to everyday people, photographer Kwame Brathwaite documented Black culture across the globe. “He’s essentially synonymous with the Black is Beautiful movement,” said Grace Deveney of the Art Institute of Chicago.

South lion at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Heather Paul / Flickr)

Leaders of both museums cited inflation and the higher cost of wages and benefits among the reasons for raising admission fees.

The nearly 7-foot-tall “Visions of Eternity” seemed to be an outlier among Salvador Dalí's work from the 1930s. (Salvador Dalí / Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society)

The curators, both working on the Art Institute of Chicago’s first show dedicated to Salvador Dalí, were researching his painting “Visions of Eternity,” which was dated to 1936 and had been held in the museum since the late 1980s. But red flags were mounting.

South lion at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Heather Paul / Flickr)

Federal prosecutors on Friday announced 56-year-old Michael Maurello has been charged with two counts each of wire fraud and bank fraud. His arraignment in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.

One of the Art Institute’s iconic lions receiving a “spa treatment.” (Courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago)

After a month-long "spa vacation," the Art Institute of Chicago's lions returned to their posts Tuesday and are once again guarding the museum's Michigan Avenue entrance.

Paul Cezanne. Montagne Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine, about 1887. The Courtauld Gallery, London. (Courtesy: Courtauld Gallery / Bridgeman Images).

Paul Cezanne was thought of as the greatest by some very great artists, including Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet, to name just two. The Art Institute along with the Tate Modern in London is presenting its first exhibition of Cezanne in 70 years. 

Funerary Mask, Late Ptolemaic Period–early Roman Period, 1st century BCE. Ancient Egyptian. (Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago, W. Moses Willner Fund).

Back in 1890, the Art Institute of Chicago began collecting Egyptian art. Much of it has been out of view for years, but the museum spruced up the collection and is about to unveil it in a new gallery. We have a preview of ancient art and artifacts from the Nile Valley in North Africa.

South lion at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Heather Paul / Flickr)
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Employees at the School of the Art Institute voted to unionize Wednesday, one day after workers at the Art Institute also voted to form a union. It’s the first major museum union in Chicago and will represent more than 200 Art Institute employees including installers, curators, custodians, librarians and retail workers.

Richard Hunt’s sculpture “Light of Truth.” (WTTW News)

His works have been exported around the world from his studio in Chicago. We catch up with sculptor Richard Hunt before the unveiling of a monument in Bronzeville that was years in the making.