The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art (formally the IU Art Museum) holds one of the most significant university art collections in the United States — over 45,000 objects spanning five millennia and six continents. The building itself, designed by I.M. Pei and opened in 1982, is extraordinary: a cluster of triangular towers connected by a soaring interior atrium, built in Indiana limestone to match the rest of the campus.
The collection is strongest in ancient art, African art, and 20th-century American painting. There are serious works by Picasso, Monet, Warhol, and Rodin alongside exceptional holdings in pre-Columbian and ancient Mediterranean objects. The museum runs regular temporary exhibitions and is open Tuesday through Sunday; free for IU students and community members.
Even if you have no particular interest in art, the building is worth seeing from the outside and walking through. It is one of the most distinguished pieces of modernist architecture in Indiana.