Past Programs & Events

Ornament & Identity: From Tiffany Studios to Tattoo Studios (SOLD OUT)

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Discover how Tiffany lamps have shaped artistic expression from historic interiors to contemporary tattoo studios.

The Creation of The Wizard of Oz

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Go beyond the yellow brick road to uncover the surprising studio intrigue, near-disasters, and one uncredited genius decision that shaped The Wizard of Oz into the beloved classic we know today.

The Alchemy of Color: Exploring the Evolution of Glassmaking in the Golden Age

Thursday, November 6, 2025, 2025

Led by Amy McHugh, Curator of Modern Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, this lecture offers an in-depth exploration of the creative and technical innovations that defined glassmaking during the modern era.

Nature as Art: A Lecture by Adam Dooling

Thursday, July 10, 2025, 2025

Presented in conjunction with the Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature, this talk explores the diverse and interconnected realms of artistic expression and the natural world. From botanical art and garden design to music, poetry, and performative arts, Adam Dooling, the Director of Plant Collections at the Chicago Botanic Garden, will explore how creative practice is informed by nature—and how nature, in turn, is shaped through artistic interpretation.

In Conversation: Materialities Artists and Curator

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Celebrate the closing week of A Tale of Today: Materialities with a conversation between the guest curator, Dr. Giovanni Aloi, and participating artists Rebecca Beachy, Laleh Motlagh and Edra Soto.

A Tale of Today: Materialities Member Reception and Program

Friday, February 7, 2025

To celebrate the opening of A Tale of Today: Materialities, we invite our members to join us for an enlightening conversation between Executive Director Lisa M. Key and guest curator Dr. Giovanni Aloi. Together they will discuss the genesis of the idea for the exhibition and how this exceptional group of artists responded to it.

Jewelry Night Out

Thursday, September 5, 2024

In honor of Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective and the Women’s Jewelry Association Jewelry Night Out, we ask the ever-important question: Why do we covet beautiful things? Find out with author Aja Raden, whose New York Times best-selling book Stoned: Jewelry Obsession and How Desire Shapes the World examines this question and delves into the stories of how eight jewels shaped the course of history.

Baubles & Bubbles SOLD OUT!

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Grab a glass of bubbly and join Chicago jewelry designers for a fun and festive evening.

This event is now sold out.

Jewelry in Perspective Virtual Conference

June 1 and 2, 2024

In conjunction with the exhibition Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective, opening May 24, this virtual conference will feature exhibition curator Elyse Zorn Karlin among other experts to discuss late 19th and 20th century American and European jewelry.

Introducing Chicago Collects | With Exhibition Curator Elyse Zorn Karlin

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Revel in the sumptuousness of our new exhibition Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective, with a behind-the-scenes look featuring exhibition curator Elyse Zorn Karlin in conversation with Driehaus Museum Executive Director Lisa Key.

Berenika Boberska | Exploring California's Lithium Valley

Thursday, April 25, 2024

The Driehaus Museum welcomes the School of the Art Institute’s Mitchell Visiting Professor Berenika Boberska to discuss her recent project, Lithium Valley Rituals.

A Celebration of A Tale of Today | Five Years of Contemporary Art at the Driehaus Museum

Saturday, April 13, 2024

This panel discussion celebrates five years of the Driehaus Museum’s contemporary exhibition series, A Tale of Today, featuring artists and fellows who will discuss their unique approach to site-specific installations in the 1883 Nickerson Mansion.

Belle Époque Fashion and its Contemporary Influences

Thursday March 14, 2024

Chicago fashion designer Maria Pinto and fashion historian Timothy Long discuss the history and styles of Belle Époque fashion and why it is still à la mode today.

Curator-Led Tour of Sif Itona Westerberg: Twin Flame, Double Ruin

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Join the curator of Sif Itona Westerberg: Twin Flame, Double Ruin for a tour of the exhibition.

Artist Talk: Sif Itona Westerberg in Conversation with Curator Stephanie Cristello

Friday, February 16, 2024

Join Copenhagen-based artist Sif Itona Westerberg and curator Stephanie Cristello for a conversation about Sif Itona Westerberg:Twin Flame, Double Ruin.

New York's Gilded Age Mansions

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Join the Driehaus Museum in collaboration with the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art as we explore all five of the mansions featured in Phillip James Dodd’s recent book, An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture of New York City.

Gilded Age Influencers: American Women and French Fashion

Friday, November 3, 2023

Inspired by the return of HBO’s The Gilded Age this fall, art historian Elizabeth Block will describe the wealthy Gilded Age American women who, as high-volume customers and as pre-Internet influencers, were active participants in the era’s transnational fashion system.

Hector Guimard’s Designs for Living: A Forum for New Research & Ideas

Saturday, October 21, 2023

This daylong forum will highlight new research that reexamines Hector Guimard ’s legacy in the context of his wife’s significant contributions and his own prescient ideas about designing for home and community.

This forum is held in partnership with the Alliance Française of Chicago and is being held at the auditorium of the Alliance Française of Chicago at 54 W. Chicago Avenue.

Note: Online sales have been closed. You may call us at 312- 482-8933 to reserve tickets or we welcome walk-ins at the event.

Midwest Museum Talks Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Join Midwest Museum Talks for an online virtual conversation between three Art Nouveau specialists who will highlight Hector Guimard’s work, his influences, his impact, and the resolutely modern dimension of his work.

Parallel Tracks: The Design and Development of the CTA in Relation to the Paris Métro

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Transit professional and historian Graham Garfield will explore Chicago’s elevated design history, with an eye toward elements that compare, contrast, or evoke Hector Guimard’s work on the Paris Métro.

Le Style Métro: Guimard, Subways, and the Modern City

Thursday, September 14, 2023

What makes subways so important to modern cities, what did they mean to the people that used them, and how did Hector Guimard’s famous entrances for the Paris Métro help create those meanings? In this illustrated lecture, scholar and author David Pike will take you on a virtual tour of subway culture, with Guimard as our guide.

Paris in Chicago: French Influences on the Development of Chicago's Lakefront Lecture SOLD OUT!

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Chicago historian Julia Bachrach, author of The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks, will explore the many fascinating and surprising ways Chicago’s lakefront is inspired by French design.

This program is now sold out.

Language of Flowers Talk and Demonstration SOLD OUT!

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Join us for an integrated talk and flower arranging demonstration that explores the history of symbolism in flowers.

Louis Sullivan’s Architecture and Chicago’s Labor Movement

Thursday, March 23, 2023

In this online program, scholar Joanna Merwood-Salisbury will describe the complex relationship between industrialization and Louis Sullivan’s rhetoric about ‘democratic’ architecture, and how a labor movement took root in the shadows of some of his best-known buildings.

Investigating Richard Nickel’s Photographs To Design a House for the Future

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Richard Nickel’s photographs may endure as an archive of Adler & Sullivan’s architecture, but for the interdiscliplinary experimental design collective Riff Studio, they were both eyes to the past and a bridge to the future.

Louis Sullivan and Cultural Memory in Chicago’s South Side

January 25, 2023, 2022

The story of the Kehilath Anshe Ma’ariv Synagogue is remarkable in so many ways. Tune in for this fascinating program on the history of a Chicago building and what it tells us about the lost voices and influences of Chicago’s Jewish and African American congregants connected to the building, Louis Sullivan’s democratic ideals, and his architectural legacy.

What Use Are Old Buildings? Historic Preservation in 2022

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Chicago’s south side was once home to many Adler & Sullivan buildings, but they—and the neighborhoods where they were built—have often been overlooked. Tonight, they are the focus.

The Art of Architecture: Perspectives on Sullivan and Nickel

Saturday, October 22 at the Murphy Auditorium (50 E. Erie), 2022

This day-long symposium explores important themes in the architecture of Louis Sullivan and the photography by Richard Nickel that documented the destruction of many of Adler & Sullivan’s most important Chicago buildings. The Art of Architecture: Perspectives on Sullivan & Nickel will bring together experts to discuss topics as diverse as the power of photography, the neuroscience behind ornamentation, and the impact and benefits of preservation on the urban built environment.

All tickets include free admission to the Museum between October 21-23. The event will be held in the Murphy Auditorium at 50 E. Erie.

Theodora Allen: Saturnine Gallery Talk

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Before Theodora Allen: Saturnine closes on Sunday, August 7th, you’ll have one last chance to get to know why Cultured Magazine called Allen’s work “a leitmotif of the scientific journey of man and nature through time.” Curator Stephanie Cristello will guide visitors through the exhibition, giving them an up close and personal view of Allen’s paintings and a deeper understanding of Allen’s work process and influences, and reveal how they tie into the world of the Nickerson Mansion. Afterwards, The Cocktail Guy will mix up the program’s exhibition-inspired signature alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktail, the Devil’s Snare.

Out of this World: Planetary Imagery and Theodora Allen’s Cosmic Garden I

This program aired on Thursday, May 19, 2022, 2022

Inspired by the visual vocabulary of Theodora Allen: Saturnine, this conversation with Adler Planetarium Curator and Director of Collections Pedro Raposo and University of Chicago Professor Emeritus of Astronomy & Astrophysics Richard Kron will explore the imagery of the cosmos as a source of fascination, influence, and exploration across art and science during the late 19th century, a time of rapid expansion in scientific knowledge, where the representation of astronomical themes signaled ideas about modernity, progress, and the promise of the future.

Inventing the Gilded Age: Decorating a Modern World

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Join decorator Thomas Jayne and curator Rebecca Tilles as they survey the aesthetics of the Gilded Age interiors in the Nickerson Mansion and other turn-of-the-century grand homes and examine their spaces for living and entertainment.

The Life and Times of Downton Abbey's Lesley Nicol: A Conversation with Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones

Friday, April 1, 2022

We continue our dive into the culinary history of the Gilded Age with a special conversation between actress Lesley Nicol – best known as the beloved cook Mrs. Patmore on Downton Abbey – and the Chicago Tribune’s theater critic Chris Jones.

Inventing the Gilded Age: Dinner at the Nickerson Mansion

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

In this virtual conversation, food stylist Rick Ellis and Metropolitan Museum of Art Curator Medill Higgins Harvey will take us on a course-by-course tour through the sumptuous dinners hosted in Gilded Age palaces like the Nickerson Mansion.

Inventing the Gilded Age: Art and Scandal — Sargent’s "Madame X"

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Scholar Debra N. Mancoff takes us into the world of American expats and their demi-monde across the ocean in Paris through the lens of one very famous painting.

Inventing the Gilded Age: Chicago Goes Shopping 

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

PAN and the Art of Printmaking - Part 1: Virtual Lecture

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Chicago's Great Fire

Thursday, October 7, 2021

From PAN to Bridge: Avant-Garde Publications in Perspective

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Chicago Encounters Japan: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

Wednesday, June 9 (SOLD OUT), 2021

Dr. Janice Katz will explain how Japan’s presence at the exposition of 1893 in Chicago was tactful, inspirational, and enduring.

(Virtually) Meet the Author - Neil Harris, Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Featuring a conversational tour through the history and architecture of some of the Windy City’s most magnificent abodes followed by Q & A with the author.

Tea is Served! with Leslie Goddard, Ph.D.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Please join us this Mother’s Day Weekend as we discuss a wonderful tradition that dates back to 1840 British royalty and quickly began to take root with people of all social classes - the afternoon tea.

In Conversation with the Driehaus Museum’s A Tale of Today: Emerging Artist Fellows

Originally Presented on
Sunday, April 11, 2020, 2021

This virtual discussion will explore how the history and architecture of the Driehaus Museum inspired the works on view in the Fellowship’s pop-up exhibition as well as the key insights the Fellows have gained from their experience.

A Tale of Today: Up From the Ashes – A Visit with Jane Addams

Monday, March 8, 2021

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we are hosting a very special engagement with Jane Addams herself! Actress Betsey Means will perform Democracy in America: A Social Gathering with Jane Addams based on Addams’ life and writings.

“Sweet” Home Chicago with Leslie Goddard, Ph.D.

Saturday, February 13, 2021, 2021

Chicago’s legacy as a “candy capital” has its roots in the late 19^th century. Spend part of your Valentine’s Day weekend learning more about the city’s “sweet” history.

PAN: The Avant-Garde Point of View with Dr. Max Koss

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Join us as art historian Dr. Max Koss explores a new era of printmaking and the transition from the more conservative art and ideas of the nineteenth century towards the progressive expressionism of the twentieth as revealed through the pages of PAN.

A Tale of Today: A Slice of Culinary History - Betty Crocker Celebrates 100 Years SOLD OUT

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Long before Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, home cooks turned to Betty Crocker. This lecture by historian Leslie Goddard, Ph.D., looks at how Betty Crocker was invented and what makes her so iconic.

Remembering Marshall Field’s at Christmas with Leslie Goddard

Friday, December 11, 2020

This illustrated talk traces Marshall Field’s beloved holiday traditions, including the Walnut Room Christmas tree, the holiday window displays, the toy department, and more.

Expressions of Illusion: The History and Creativity of Trompe L’oeil

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Discover how trompe l’oeil, the use of visual illusions in art, has enticed viewers for centuries with art historian Paul Neumann.

From Hand to Hearth: The Untold Story of American Mosaic Fireplaces
SOLD OUT

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Fine craftsman and designer Ted Ellison will bring a historical perspective as we explore how Giannini & Hilgart, alongside the celebrated architects of their day, approached the language of mosaic with fresh experiments in material and decorative design.

WATCH | Opening Day Virtual Panel Discussion - A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi

Originally Presented on
Saturday, September 26, 2020, 2020

Presented on the opening day of our exhibition A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi featuring the artists, exhibition curator, and three guest panelists.

Signature Series: Tiffany Memorials – The Visual Language of Remembrance

Saturday and Sunday, February 22 and 23, 2020

The signature event for Eternal Light will expand on the commemorative aspects of Tiffany’s windows, focusing on the development of war memorials in both America and Europe.

SOLD OUT - The Roaring 20s: Lips that Touch Liquor and Other Stories of the Noble Experiment

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Chicago historian Al Walavich will explore where the paths of Prohibition and the Temperance Movement intersected and how they diverged.

Making a Masterpiece: Stained-Glass Demonstration with Celia Hunt - SOLD OUT

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Professional glass artist Celia Hunt demonstrates stained-glass technique, its history, and explores the materials and methods used to produce a stained-glass masterpiece.

Chicago Opera Theater's Everest/Aleko

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

​Chicago Opera Theater melds the contemporary and the classic in their fall production of Everest/Aleko. Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya leads the conversation on what brings these to eras of art together.

The Power of Architectural Vocabulary on Behavior

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

​Presented by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation at the Murphy Auditorium This symposium explores the question - What holds our attraction to some forms of architecture over others?

SOLD OUT - Alternative Truths: The Tiffany Women

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Morse Museum’s Jennifer P. Thalheimer will discuss the extraordinary life of Clara Driscoll and other female artists from Tiffany Studios whose contributions have long been overlooked.

SOLD OUT - Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Agnes Northrop

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Join Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to consider the work of Agnes Northrop, one of the most important women artists at Tiffany Studios.

Young Chicago Authors: Bomb Squad – A Tale of Today Spoken Word Performance

Friday, August 2 , 2019

Young Chicago Authors’ Louder Than a Bomb Squad will perform their creative responses to the themes and subjects explored in A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE.

In Conversation: Darrell McKinney and Luis Rodríguez Rosario

Thursday, July 25, 2019

The artists will discuss their use of materials and how they explore the ideas of home and identity in their work.

Oscar Wilde Salon Series: The Picture of Dorian Gray Screening

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Every picture tells a story, but none as haunting a tale as Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel, Join Tom Gunning to discuss the significance of the motion picture in modern film.

Oscar Wilde Salon Series: Examining Wilde Through the Queer Lens

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Dramatic readings and a discussion with experts, Michael Halberstam and Dr. Jeffrey Kessler will illuminate the controversial life and literature of Oscar Wilde.

In Conversation: Brittney Leeanne Williams and Jeffly Gabriela Molina

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

The artists will discuss their use of materials and how they explore the ideas of home and identity in their work.

Signature Lecture with Fashion Designer Walé Oyéjidé

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

The A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE Signature Lecture continues our exploration of art as a mechanism for social change with Nigerian-American fashion designer, Walé Oyéjidé.

Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Shantrelle P. Lewis discusses her exhibition and the global-cultural conversation around the changing, highly-nuanced expressions of Black identity.

The Cornerstore Live Podcast Recording with Kevin Coval and Tara Mahadevan

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Kevin Coval and his co-host Tara Mahadevan talk about the importance of creating career-building opportunities for emerging artists of color.

Fashion and Fabric: Textiles, Trade, and Africa

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Explore Yinka Shonibare’s practices of leveraging extraordinary textiles and period clothing as cultural signifiers with AIC’s Melinda Watt and historian Kirstin Purtich.

When Modern Was: A Dialogue with Past and Present

Thursday, April 4, 2019

A concert and lecture format that considers how contemporary art, in music and in museums, pushes traditional boundaries, acts as a catalyst for change and inspires future generations.

Irish Rebel, Imperial Reformer: Charles Gavan Duffy and the British

Thursday, March 14, 2019

In honor of Irish-America Heritage Month, Dr. Sean Farrell will explore Ireland’s complex identity as both a colonized nation of the British Empire and its role as a colonizer abroad.

Opening Day Panel Discussion - Yinka Shonibare CBE

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Hosted by the MCA, this panel explores the art of Yinka Shonibare CBE, who draws on history, politics, and fashion to explore our understanding of the past in relation to today’s changing global-cultural landscape.

Prost! Beer Culture and Chicago’s German Immigrants - Sold Out!

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Learn how German immigrants—through industry, craft, innovation and culture—were vital to Chicago’s late 19th-century urban development and to her socio-cultural landscape.

A Novel Experience: The Joffrey Ballet’s Anna Karenina - Cancelled

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

An epic love story for the ages! The Driehaus Museum is proud to partner with The Joffrey Ballet for this unique book club experience.

“Every Stroke Telling”: John Singer Sargent and Gilded Age Portraiture

Tuesday November 13, 2018

Explores Sargent’s talents as a storyteller of the brush, focusing on how the artist’both drew from the past and pushed painting in new directions at the turn of the twentieth century.

The Art of Gilded Frames

Wednesday November 7, 2018

Bernacki & Associates will explore the extraordinary craftsmanship and specialized techniques of hand carved and gilded frames.

Art, Money, and Celebrity: Portraits as Cultural Currency

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Beauty’s Legacy curator, Barbara Gallati, discusses a series of important portrait exhibitions organized by members of the social elite for charitable purposes.

Making Magnificence: Architects, Stuccatori, and the 18th-Century Interior

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Join author Christine Casey for a presentation on her recently published book, which tells the remarkable story of the craftsmen of Ticino, in Italian-speaking Switzerland.

Chicago Opera Theater’s Iolanta - Sold Out

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Opera at the Marble Palace! Experience the opulent music of the Gilded Age with Tchaikovsky’s last opera.

Gilded Chicago: Portraits of a Proud Era

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Jeannine Falino will discuss the ascent of the City’s emerging industrialists and the solidification of their new wealth through the purchase of homes, furnishings, and portraits.

2018 Signature Lecture: Mansions and Matrons: Women, Wealth, and the Power Houses of America’s Gilded Age

Wednesday, October 10 , 2018

This year’s Signature Lecture continues our exploration of women and design by examining the role women played in the rise of the luxurious mansion in the Gilded Age.

“All That Glitters” Chicago Portraits in the Gilded Age

Thursday September 20 , 2018

Cultural historian Celia Hilliard will take a look back at the sometimes fraught enterprise of Gilded Age portrait commissions.

Living Dangerously: The Social Change Work of Jane Addams and the Hull-House Settlement

Thursday, June 21, 2018

In recognition of Pride Month, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum director and chief curator, Jennifer Scott discusses Jane Addams’ important contributions to social change.

Designing Women: Refining Landscapes with Vivian Beer

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Vivian Beer is one of two 21st century designers featured in The Art of Seating. This discussion will provide a window into her inspiration, skills, and creative process.

Leading Ladies of Chicago’s Columbian Exposition: Celebrating 125 Years - Sold Out

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Historian Sally Kalmbach will discuss how Gilded Age Chicago’s leading ladies played an integral leadership role in planning the World’s Fair and cultivating Chicago’s successful future.

The Art & Science of Ornament: Why the Details Matter

Thursday, May 24, 2018

More than just the capturing of space, architecture impacts us all on conscious and subconscious levels, in particular through the presence and/or absence of architectural ornament.

Designing Women: Florence Knoll

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Learn how Knoll’s business savvy and vision transformed a furniture design firm into an enterprise that played a major role in defining the mid-century modern design aesthetic.

The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body & Design

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

This lively discussion, by UC Berkeley professor Galen Cranz, will focus on the sociological development of chair design and its relationship to the body, posture, and ergonomics..

Meet the Experts: Art Rescue 911

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Bernacki & Associates is one of Chicago’s premier conservation & restoration firms specializing in “saving” period furniture, objects, historic millwork and architectural elements.

The Art of Seating Private Collector Diane Jacobsen

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A private collector with passion, Diane Jacobsen tells the story of how she began collecting chairs and how that collection became The Art of Seating.

The Driehaus Prize Ceremony

Saturday, March 24, 2018

The Museum would like to congratulate the 2018 recipients of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize, Marc Breitman and Nada Breitman-Jakov.

A People’s History of Chicago - Sold Out

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

A People’s History of Chicago sheds light on “some of the best and most radical and real and celebratory and difficult parts of our Chicago story.”