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Downtown Davenport Iowa Walking Tour
Item 11 of 15
The Figge Art Museum is the premier art exhibition and education facility between Chicago and Des Moines. With soaring glass walls reflecting the constantly changing sky, the museum’s expansive galleries and intimate rooms are home to some of the Midwest’s finest art collections. Studio-style classrooms allow young and old to participate in the creative process.

The Figge Art Museum was established in 1925 and has grown to become the premier art museum between Chicago and Des Moines.

The Figge Art Museum was established in 1925 and has grown to become the premier art museum between Chicago and Des Moines.
The museum opened as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery in 1925 with a gift of 350 European and Mexican Colonial paintings, creating the first municipal art gallery in the state of Iowa. Today, the collections include more than 3,500 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the 16th century to the present. These include works from Asia, Haiti, and America. The museum also houses the archive of American artist Grant Wood, who is known for his painting "American Gothic."

In 1987, the museum changed its name to the Davenport Museum of Art. Then in 2003, the museum relocated to the heart of downtown Davenport, following a major capital campaign. In recognition of the $13.25 million gift to the new building project from the V. O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation, the museum was renamed the Figge Art Museum.

The Figge Art Museum opened at its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in August 2005. The 114,000 square-foot facility was designed by British architect David Chipperfield. The combination of reflective, transparent and opaque surfaces continuously transforms the appearance of the facade in relation to the sun and changing cloud patterns. The building is a civic landmark in downtown Davenport and enables the museum to further its mission as a regional exhibition space and a community-oriented education center.
"Museum History/Mission." Figge Art Museum. Accessed March 22, 2019.  https://figgeartmuseum.org/about/museum-history-mission.