Chicago Contemporary Art Museum Tickets and Tours

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago offers visitors an extensive exhibition with thousands of historical objects, including paintings representative of different currents: postmodernism, minimalism, pop art, surrealism, among others. You will also see sculptures, objects and installations, all of them belonging to permanent and temporary collections of iconic international and national artists.

Undoubtedly, buying tickets to visit this contemporary art museum is a good option to incorporate among the things to see and do in Chicago during your stay in the so-called Windy City.

You can get general admission tickets to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago for an average price of 15€. They are available on their official website at the officialtext.

However, if you are a student or a senior citizen, you will have the possibility to buy a reduced price ticket. In this way, you will pay only 8€.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago offers general, reduced and free admission to provide visitors with several options for accessing the art on display in the galleries.

• General admission: costs $15 and allows you to enjoy a self-paced tour of the museum's galleries.
• Reduced admission: this option is aimed at seniors, teachers and students, who pay only €8. Therefore, they will have a saving of up to 7 € compared to the price of general admission.
• Free admission: it is aimed at citizens or tourists under 18 years of age. Also, people with mobility disabilities, hearing, low vision or color blind, in addition to free admission, may have a wheelchair during the tour, a sign language interpreter or color blindness corrective glasses. However, to enjoy these services it is necessary to contact the museum through the email info@mcachicago.org and they will plan your visit.

Regarding skip-the-line tickets to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, you should know that this option is not available. In any case, you will be able to avoid waiting in line by using a pass and ticket card to Chicago tourist attractions. This way, you will enter directly and save time.

Yes, tickets to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago are included in one of the city's tourist passes. This is Go City, which is nothing more than an electronic card with which you will have direct access to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, that is, you will not have to wait in line.

All you have to do is arrive at the building and go to the ticket office to scan the QR code on your cell phone. This way, you will enter the halls to enjoy the permanent and temporary visual art exhibits. Not only will you save time, but also money, compared to the price of general admission.

Yes. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago offers a guided tour program for individuals, school groups and college students.

This is a worthwhile option, since thanks to the specialized guide, you will get privileged information about each of the works and artists.

Among the guided tours offered by the museum you will find the following:

• Private guided tour: this tour for one or two people takes place from Thursday to Sunday and on Wednesdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. On Tuesdays the schedule is from 10:00 to 20:00 hours. The average ticket price is €25.
• VIP visit before opening or after closing to the public: both visits are aimed at groups of 10 to 50 people, have a duration of one hour and its average price is 100 € per visitor. However, they differ in their schedules. The first one takes place at 9:00 a.m., that is, 60 minutes before opening to the public, and includes a visit to the museum's café. The second option is after 5:00 a.m. or 9:00 p.m., depending on the day, and offers a pass valid for entry to the museum for seven days following your visit.
• School tour: This tour is only available for groups of up to 35 students (grades 1-12) from Illinois. Out-of-state college students may also enjoy this tour.
• Stroller Tour: On the first Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m., parents with their babies can attend a guided tour of the museum.

Whichever guided tour you wish to take, you must reserve tickets at least two weeks in advance by calling the museum's contact number +1-312-397-3898 or emailing info@mcachicago.org.

Yes, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has discounted admission for seniors, teachers and students.

In any of these cases, you will have to pay 8€ for the ticket, that is, 7€ less than the general admission. Of course, to enjoy this special rate you must present the respective updated identificationat the box office.

Similarly, if you present the LINK card (EBT), you will get a price of € 3 per ticket.

In addition to the special prices, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has the option of free admission.

This option is open to anyone under 18, locals or tourists with disabilities, and Illinois elementary and high school teachers. Also, for war veterans, active members of the fire departments, police and armed forces.

Although the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago does not offer special admission for the little ones in the house, children under the age of 18 can enter for free.

In fact, the museum store has a section dedicated to the little ones, where you can buy toys, books and games.

Therefore, this is a good option to incorporate among the things to see and do in Chicago with children.

Buying tickets online for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is worth it because you will be able to secure the day and time of the visit. All this, without having to waste time waiting at the box office to pay, due to the high influx of locals and tourists during the day.

On the other hand, when you buy directly at the box office you will enjoy tickets with special discounts, which is not possible when using the electronic system from your computer or cell phone.

However, you should always keep in mind that with the traditional method you may have inconveniences regarding immediate availability.

Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. you will find the doors open at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

However, closing times vary depending on the day of the week: Wednesday through Sunday is 5:00 pm and Tuesday is 9:00 pm.

For its part, access to the store is almost identical to that of the museum. On Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm and from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. That is, in the latter case the closing time is extended by 30 minutes.

On Mondays, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is closed for maintenance of the galleries and periodic renovation of the exhibits.

Likewise, you will find the building closed on some U. S. holidays such as Christmas, New Year's Day and Thanksgiving.

The galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago are designed to be toured in a minimum of 60 minutes. This is sufficient time to observe in detail all the works of art on display.

However, there are those who require more than an hour, since they wish to stop a little longer in front of a work to understand and admire it, or simply stroll through the gallery again. For this reason, the museum establishes a maximum time limit of two hours in the galleries.

Whether you take a 60-minute or two-hour tour, after your visit you will have enough time to continue visiting another of Chicago' s best museums or explore the streets of the city by joining one of the segway tours in Chicago.

Certainly any day of the year is a good time to enjoy the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, but you should keep in mind that the best time to visit the museum is when there are not too many visitors.

In this way, you will have the opportunity to walk through the gallery with greater freedom and comfort, being able to stop in front of the work you want without anyone getting in the way.

For example, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago during the first hour of opening (10:00 a.m.) there are usually few visitors. The same is true before closing time, i.e., between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

On the other hand, the time with the highest number of visitors is from Wednesday to Sunday at 14:00 hours and on Tuesdays at 18:00 hours.

To get to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago you have several options. You can hop on a public transit route, use the bicycle service or drive a car on your own.

• Public transportation: the #66 Chicago Avenue, #10 Museum of Science and Industry and #3 King Drive bus routes are the best ways to get to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Other routes, schedules and fares can also be found here.
• Bicycle rentals: the city offers several bicycle parking lots that cover the route to the museum. Such is the case of Divvy Bikes, which you can access through its application for cell phones with Android iOS operating system. Likewise, there's Ride the City and many more.
• Driving on your own: it's about a 10-minute ride from downtown. You'll need to drive from S Federal St to W Jackson Blvd, turn left onto S Michigan Ave and right onto E Chicago Ave, heading towards N Mies Van Der Rohe Way.
• Tourist Bus: the route of these buses runs along E Pearson Street, right at one end of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. You can get off at the Water Tower stop and walk less than 5 minutes straight ahead, a distance of approximately 322 meters to the museum door.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago you will find more than 2,700 historic pieces, collected since the 1940s and now part of the permanent exhibition.

You will also be able to enjoy individual works of art, belonging to emerging artists who wish to make their work known.

On the first floor of the museum is the Marisol restaurant, where you can enjoy delicious cuisine while admiring the mural by British artist Chris Ofili, whose surrealist theme shows a cave with mythical beasts.

Also on this level is the silent space, which is a room with seats to rest for up to 30 minutes.

Going up to the second, third and fourth floors of the building you will find a series of galleries with paintings representative of artistic movements such as postmodernism, minimalism, surrealism, conceptualism and pop art.

You will also see a variety of installations, photographs and sculptures. Among the most representative are:

• The pop art of Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.
• The post-war photographs of Cindy Sherman.
• The installations and paintings of Kara Walker.
• The kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder.

In addition to the permanent and temporary collections exhibited in the halls, the museum also has a theater on the second floor, a souvenir store and an educational center on the second level.

There is also the terrace, which opens its doors every Tuesday to present jazz recitals. However, the other areas mentioned are not available every day, as they are used for special activities, which you can consult prior to your visit through the official website of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

There are some basic tips that will help enhance your experience visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. For example:

• Check available exhibitions and activities prior to your visit. Remember that the museum's exhibits change periodically.
• Purchase tickets online to ensure admission on the day and time you want.
• Check the museum's rules, either before entering the galleries or beforehand through its official website.
• Arrive at the museum at least 30 minutes before the entrance time. This way, you will avoid inconveniences and make the most of the tour.
• If you have a disability, do not forget to contact the museum staff in advance, so that they can plan your visit. They will provide you with the resources available (wheelchair and glasses for color blindness).