Art Institute of Chicago Receives Record $75 M. Gift Toward Expansion

The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) received a $75 million donation from Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed to support future expansion, the museum announced on Tuesday.

The largest naming gift in the museum’s 145-year history, the funds will be used to realize building plans that expand access to the museum’s collection and enhance visitor experience. The Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed building will house new galleries for the museum’s collection of late 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art.

“We are beyond grateful to collaborate with Aaron and Lin to imagine the future of our campus,”
said president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago James Rondeau in a statement. “Their exceptional generosity and vision will allow our aspirations to become a reality and I am grateful for their dedication to Chicago, and to serving our visitors for generations to come.”

These efforts are part of a larger project to revitalize the institution. In 2019, with the help of architecture firm Barozzi Veiga, the AIC began making improvements to existing spaces.

Both Fleischman and Lougheed have midwestern roots, hailing from Highland Park, Illinois and Ottumwa, Iowa, respectively. Fleischman, who started collecting art in the 1980s, has been a trustee at the AIC for almost 15 years. He has appeared on ARTnews’s Top 200 Collectors list.

“The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the world’s great art collections,” said Fleischman. “Lin
and I are excited about naming a new building that will create additional space for visitors to see
more of the collection than they have ever been able to see before, and for the museum to tell a
more complete story of modern and contemporary art. Touring the collections on view and in
storage I came to believe that more of the museum‘s extraordinary collection needed to be
available to visitors and presented in world-class architecture.”