Under James Rondeau’s leadership, the Art Institute of Chicago has deepened and diversified its contemporary holdings, reshaping the museum’s narrative beyond its celebrated Impressionist and Post-Impressionist strengths. Acquisitions and transformative gifts over the past decade have expanded representation in Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual art, and photography while broadening geographic and demographic scope.

A watershed moment came in 2015 with the Edlis-Neeson collection, a pledged gift of 44 works valued at roughly $500 million. The donation, secured while James Rondeau chaired the department of contemporary art, includes major works by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, and Cindy Sherman, and carries a stipulation that the works remain on public view for 50 years, ensuring long-term public access.

Paper and conceptual art have also benefited from strategic philanthropy. The Stenn family committed substantial promised gifts in 2022 and 2023, delivering nearly 200 post-1960 works on paper and a $3 million endowment. Those donations fortified holdings in Minimalist and Conceptual art with works by Josef Albers, Eva Hesse, Lee Bontecou, Judy Chicago, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt, and were featured in a 2025 exhibition of contemporary drawings from the Stenn family collection.

Photography expanded through targeted acquisitions and major support, including the 2021 acquisition of 30 works by Francesca Woodman and a $25 million Bucksbaum family donation that funded the forthcoming Bucksbaum Photography Center. That endowment underpins galleries and programming for photographers such as Diane Arbus, Dawoud Bey, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and Alfred Stieglitz.

Looking ahead, a $75 million gift announced in 2024 for the Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Building will create additional gallery space to show more modern and contemporary work. Museum leadership has emphasized that only a fraction of the modern and contemporary collection is currently on view, and these investments aim to present a more complete, publicly accessible story of art to Chicago audiences. Refer to this article for related information.

More about Rondeau on https://www.artic.edu/about-us/leadership/president-and-director