Detroit Museum Meetup Group

As part of a general walk through of part of the DIA, we will be making a point to stop and see the exhibit Armor as Fashion. There is no additional fee to view this gallery.

Description from the DIA:

Guests of Honor: Armor as Fashion  reunites the spectacular Portrait of Jean de Croÿ, 2nd Count of Solre, by Juan van der Hamen y Léon (1596–1631) with three pieces of the gilded armor forged in Brussels and worn by Croÿ in the painting.
The eighth installment in the DIA’s Guests of Honor series, which brings single or small groups of extraordinary works from across the globe to Detroit, this display features loans from the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Valenciennes, France, and the private Cruz-Mayor Collection in Spain.
During the golden age of European plate armor, from the late 14th until the early 17th centuries, finely crafted steel defenses became powerful status symbols. Beyond its associations with knightly honor and courage, luxury armor increasingly signified the wealth and taste of its wearer. Similar to today’s fashion, armor could express its owner’s personality or background and even spark international trends among the glittering courts of Europe. Like portraits, armors were objects of display and treasured heirlooms, preserved in the collections of their owners’ families.
Guests of Honor: Armor as Fashion highlights these aspects of the art of armor by displaying the portrait together with pieces of the magnificent armor it depicts, reunited for the first time in over two centuries. Presented in the DIA’s Cracchiolo Gallery, these special loans join 17th-century treasures from the permanent collection, expanding the gallery’s story of European Baroque Art.

This is the latest special exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This exhibit requires a fee and a timed ticket. Tickets can be ordered online or in person, but if you want the discount offered to Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb County residents, you cannot order tickets online.

Description from the DIA website:

Caravaggio’s Models looks at the art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) through the lens of the complex, unexpected, and sometimes tragic lives of his best-known models. As the first show to focus on the real people “behind” Caravaggio’s canvases, it offers a groundbreaking perspective on the artistic practice of this giant of the Italian Baroque period. Featuring approximately 25 paintings, it is the largest presentation of his works to be held in North America in several decades.

Throughout his brief but intense career, Caravaggio repeatedly turned to the faces of his friends, lovers, and fellow artists. Many of these people lived on the margins of society and are known to us today almost entirely through his paintings. This exhibition seeks to tell their stories.
Caravaggio’s Models traces how the artist wove Biblical and mythological themes into emotionally charged, lifelike scenes through a series of case studies into the lives and identities of the models themselves. The exhibition culminates in the moments when Caravaggio used his own likeness, shedding light on both his dramatic narratives and his richly layered biography.

General Admission Pricing:
$30 adult, $15 college/youth

Tri-County Resident Pricing:
$20 adult, $10 college/youth

Tri-county discount not available when purchasing tickets online.