DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS

art museum in Detroit, Mich., noted for its collection of American paintings from the 19th century and its Dutch, Flemish, and Italian paintings from the Renaissance through the Baroque periods. The collection of American art is augmented by the Archives of American Art, a regional research centre (one of five) affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. The museum was founded in 1885 by a group of Detroit citizens, was given to the city in 1919, and moved into its present neoclassical structure in 1927. It was enlarged by additions completed in 1966 and 1971. The museum's central courtyard is decorated with a series of 27 murals by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera that depict the automobile industry.