Free and open to all, The Block is Northwestern University's art museum, which serves as a bridge to the surrounding communities of Evanston and the greater Chicago metropolitan area. Research, exhibitions, and programs center what has been overlooked or understudied, and present opportunities to reframe narratives of art and history through an interdisciplinary lens. With approximately 7,000 artworks in its holdings, the foundation of the museum’s collection lies in prints, drawings, photographs, and these continue to be areas of expansion. Additionally, The Block collects modern and contemporary art globally across all mediums.

The Block is an engine that drives questioning, experimentation, and collaboration across fields of study, with visual arts at the center. The museum does this by activating art’s power as a form of insight, research, and knowledge creation that makes human experience visible and material. Fueled by a broad range of perspectives and ways of knowing, The Block creates shared encounters with art and with one another to deepen understandings of the world and our place within it.