A museum guard and two young visitors examine the Paul Revere tea set at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1946. Photo by the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company.

A man in a fur coat visiting the galleries of the Minneapolis Institute of Art with his camera, 1937. Photo by the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company.

The original entrance of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, designed by designed by McKim, Mead and White, 1929. Photo by Norton & Peel.

Lucretia, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1666. Lucretia was known for her loyalty and virtue. Rembrandt tells her story through her solemn and saddened gaze, in the traces of blood on her gown, and the dagger in her hand, which refers to her suicide after being raped. Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Scholars at the Lanting Pavilion, 1790. The Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong (r. 1736–95) commissioned this jade boulder, apparently the largest piece of historic carved jade outside of China. Creative Commons Public Domain 1.0.

Frank by Chuck Close, 1969. The model for this painting was not Frank himself but rather an eight-by-ten-inch photograph of him. Since the late 1960s, Chuck Close’s method has been to start with a photographic print that he enlarges and overlays with a grid. In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted (InC-EDU).

The Doryphoros, Roman, 120–50 BCE. The Doryphoros, or Spear Bearer, represents the perfect man, reflecting mathematically precise proportions. This is one of four surviving copies of the Greek original, now lost. Creative Commons Public Domain 1.0.

Shrine head, between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. This is a memorial portrait head from the royal city of Ife in western Nigeria, a center of power from 1100 to 1400. Ife artists made heads in bronze and terra-cotta that were part of complete figures or, as here, freestanding. Creative Commons Public Domain 1.0.

Olive Trees, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889. The painting is one of fifteen canvases of olive trees that van Gogh executed between June and December of 1889. The vibrant oranges and yellows suggest that the picture dates to the autumn months. Creative Commons Public Domain 1.0.

The Wu family reception hall, early seventeenth century. This three-bay reception hall was originally part of a traditional Suzhou-style courtyard house located in the east Dongting district near the present town of Dongshan. From the period rooms of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis. Creative Commons Public Domain 1.0.