Founded in 1915, The Renaissance Society is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists.

It is renowned for having fostered foundational exhibitions by artists who went on to become generational markers, such as Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley, Isa Genzken, Bruce Nauman, Félix González-Torres, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, and Joan Jonas. Earlier in its history, it played a key role in bringing European and other avant-garde practices to Chicago through presentations of Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Mies Van Der Rohe, Käthe Kollwitz, and Joseph Cornell, among others.

All exhibitions and events at The Renaissance Society are free to attend. Visitors to the Ren find a uniquely intimate platform for encountering artistic expressions that give form to, challenge, and complicate currents in contemporary thought.