Fine Art Collection Mission, Scope, and Policy

Chicago Botanic Garden/Chicago Horticultural Society
Fine Art Collection Mission, Scope, and Policy

Revised December 2009

MISSION
The purpose of fine art within the Chicago Botanic Garden is to enhance the visitor’s experience of the designed landscape and to establish the Garden’s reputation as a museum of the highest quality, known for both its living and fine art collections. 

SCOPE OF COLLECTION
The Garden’s master site plan, established in 1968 and reaffirmed in 1995 and 2009, is rooted in late twentieth-century American modernism.  All of the Garden’s permanent structures were either designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes (American, 1915­–2004) or inspired by the modernist vocabulary of his work.  Following this artistic vocabulary, the Garden will focus its long-term collections strategy on creating a historically significant collection of art that complements this modern aesthetic.