Minneapolis is MIA
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, affectionately known as the MIA, is a medium-sized art museum and is home to an exceptional gallery of Impressionist paintings and an exquisite Asian collection. You could easily spend a day exploring this museum as you go from Picasso to Kandinsky, from Rodin to Matisse and then run into European armor to African money weights to furniture.
The highlight of the entire museum is the Asian collection; there are some very cool items such as a 3,000 year old Chinese ceremonial cup that’s shaped like an owl; a gigantic jade carving of a mountain scene where poet are illustrated as collating texts and drinking wine; and a complete 1700′s era living room shipped in from China.
MIA also keeps pace with the 21st century; in 2006 it added a 113,000 square foot expansion wing, designed by post-modernist architect, Michael Graves, to the original 1915 marble building.
The best part, besides the art collection, is MIA’s admission is absolutely free. Located at 2400 Third Avenue South, next to many luxury Minneapolis hotels , restaurants and shops. If you’d like, the museum offers an audio guide for $4 and the current exhibitions are ‘Global Positioning c. 1600: A Rare World Map’ running through August 29, 2010 and ‘Robert Bergman: Portraits, 1986 to 1995, running through August 22, 2010.