The Terra Foundation for American Art provides opportunities for interaction with original works of American art for the enjoyment of diverse audiences. It supports exhibitions at its museum in France, the Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, and has a selection of artworks from its collection on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. The foundation also lends objects from its collection to national and international exhibitions that advance scholarship in and the interpretation of American art. To make loan inquiries, please review the foundation’s loan request procedures. In addition, the Terra Foundation recently announced the expansion of its grant program, which includes support for exhibitions that increase the understanding and enjoyment of American art (recent exhibition grants). The foundation has a particular interest in exhibitions with venues that are outside the United States or in its hometown of Chicago, but also makes grants to exhibitions that encompass multi-national collaboration or that interpret American art within a global context. Please see Exhibition Program Guidelines for more information. View related calendar items

Musée d’Art Américain Giverny A selection of the foundation’s artworks is on view between April 1 and October 31 each year at the Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, the French museum operated by the Terra Foundation for the Arts. The museum displays the collection in thematic exhibitions on a variety of topics, often accompanied by a publication. The museum is located at 99 rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny, France.

The Art Institute of Chicago Since April 2005, approximately fifty paintings from the foundation’s collection have been on loan to the Department of American Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). The collections of the Terra and the Art Institute are located in a new suite of galleries, and together provide one of the nation’s most comprehensive presentations of American art. The foundation’s collection of American works on paper are housed in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute. The Art Institute is located at 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60603. Appointments to view works on paper from the Terra collection may be made by calling 312 443 3660 or by emailing . Paintings on view at the AIC

Other Venues Works in the collection are also featured in these exhibitions:

To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, November 8, 2008–March 1, 2009

Capturing the drama and beauty of historic polar expeditions, To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape presents more than 50 works by prominent artist-explorers. The exhibition offers views of the Arctic and Antarctic — from the documentary to the sublime and existential. William Bradford's Floe–Ice and Frederic Church's The Iceberg from the Terra collection are two examples of this maritime painting tradition.

Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, October 11, 2008–January 11, 2009
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, February 7–May 10, 2009
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 6–September 6, 2009

Bessie Potter Vonnoh was one of the most highly respected American sculptors at the turn of the 20th century. Recognized for her intimate statuettes of women and children, Vonnoh specialized in bronzes for domestic settings and broadened the audience for high quality sculpture. The exhibition of 35 pieces includes In Arcadia from the Terra Collection.

Western Motel. Edward Hopper and Contemporary Art
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, October 2, 2008–February 15, 2009

The Terra's Dawn in Pennsylvania by Edward Hopper, along with other paintings by Hopper, is shown with the works of David Claerbout, Dawn Clements, Jonas Dahlberg, Thomas Demand, Gustav Deutsch, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Tim Eitel, Jim Jarmusch, Rachel Khedoori, Mark Lewis, Ed Ruscha, Markus Schinwald/Oleg Soulimenko, Jeff Wall, and Rachel Whiteread. 

George Tooker: A Retrospective
National Academy Museum, New York, New York, October 2, 2008–January 4, 2009
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  January 30–April 5, 2009
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, May 1–September 6, 2009

George Tooker: A Retrospective will bring together approximately sixty paintings and drawings, including two works from the Terra Collection, Window VII  and Highway. This exhibition will introduce audiences to Tooker's hauntingly beautiful and unforgettable imagery. It also will be the first exhibition to integrate ephemera from the artist's papers with paintings and drawings, including sketchbooks, letters and photographs, in order to show his range of interests, provide social context, and bring his career to life.

George Forest de Brush: The Indian Paintings
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 14, 2008–January 4, 2009
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington,  February 26–May 24, 2009

The exhibition, organized by the National Gallery of Art in associatin with the Seattle Art Museum, includes 21 works of art by George Forest de Brush, a gifted but little-known 19th-century American artist. The Weaver from the Terra's collection is traveling with the exhibition.

Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, 1885-1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 3, 2008

This exhibition, organized by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny is comprised of over fifty works from the Terra collection. The exhibition studies the international phenomenon of the Giverny artist community over a thirty year period, within the context of rural artists’ colonies.

Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915
Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008
Musée des Beaux-arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009

This exhibition, organized by the Terra Foundation for American Art and Musée d'Art Américain Giverny in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, features approximately 60 paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs of women at the turn of the last century drawn primarily from French public collections. These paintings were produced by celebrated American artists such as John White Alexander, Thomas Eakins, William T. Dannat or John Singer Sargent and photographs taken by Americans Gertrude Käsebier, George Henry Seeley, Edward Steichen and Clarence H. White. They demonstrate a decorative elegance that relates to the renewal of high society portraiture during this period. Works from the Terra collection from this same historic period are included to enrich and complete the exhibition.