Rockford Art Museum
Published on HivePostify by @byzantinecat · Tue Jun 02 2026
Greetings!
Rockford is the 5th largest city in Illinois and is located in the north, near the border to Wisconsin. On a recent 2026 trip, I visited the Rockford Art Museum as well as the Burpee Museum of Natural History. This post is about the art museum.
Since Rockford is neither in downtown Chicago or the outlying suburbs, for organizational purposes I suppose I would roughly group northern Illinois with central Illinois in terms of distance to Chicago.
Other posts I have made for those areas include:
H1: [Peoria Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/peoria-zoo)
H2: [Miller Park Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/miller-park-zoo)
H3: [Scovill Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/scovill-zoo)
H4: Rockford Art Museum (this post)
And upcoming posts include:
- Krannert Art Museum in Urbana-Champaign, IL - Spurlock Museum of World Cultures in Urbana-Champaign, IL - Japan House Gardens & Illini Union Art Gallery in Urbana-Champaign, IL - Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, IL
All of the pictures in this post were taken by me. If you want to use any of my photos, please contact me to first obtain permission. Of course the copyrights to the art itself belongs to the appropriate artists, who I have credited/referenced. If any artists want me to remove images of their work, I will do so.
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ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM
711 North Main St Rockford, IL 61103
Website: https://rockfordartmuseum.org/
Hours:
Thursday - Sunday: 10 AM - 5 PM
Closed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Cost (as of 2026): FREE!
Estimated Time: 30 - 45 minutes.
I spent 40 minutes going through the small local art museum.
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SUMMARY
The Rockford Art Museum is a small but free local art museum. The first floor hosts the museum's permanent collection. There is one large gallery space (which you can see in the first two pictures of the post) along with a smaller side room with some additional pieces. There is also a downstairs gallery (broken down into 2-4 sections) which seems to be mainly used for special exhibits.
Most of the artwork is contemporary (i.e. from the 20th or 21st centuries) with a handful of modern pieces from the early 1920's. It's a fairly small museum that you can easily walk through in less than an hour - more likely in about half an hour.
On my visit, the bottom level showcased art by local high school students. Some museum patrons may find it refreshing to see developing talent while other visitors might feel it's not up to their artistic standards. Since I like cute animals, I did appreciate that many of the high school artists had animals as their subject matter.
I would rate the museum at 2 stars. Since it's free, it's worth a look if you are in the area and have some free time. But given its small size and limited scope, it probably wouldn't be worth it if there was an admission cost (i.e. if it was paid admission it would probably be closer to 1 star).
Here is how I would compare the Rockford Art Museum to other art museums:
5 stars: - Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL) - Castello Sforzesco (Milan, Italy) - Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA) - Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden (New Orleans, LA, Free)
4 stars: - The Ringling (Sarasota, FL) - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice (Nice, France) - Musée Masséna (Nice, France) - Musei di Strada Nuova (Genoa, Italy) - Villa del Principe (Genoa, Italy) - Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan, Italy) - Rodin Museum (Philadelphia, PA) - Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis, IN) - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA) - Legion of Honor (San Francisco, CA)
3 stars: - Musée Matisse (Nice, France) - Palais Lascaris (Nice, France) - Musée Picasso (Antibes, France) - Museo Diocesano (Genoa, Italy) - Triton Museum of Art (Santa Clara, CA, Free) - de Young Museum (San Francisco, CA) - High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA) - New Orleans Museum of Art (New Orleans, LA)
2 stars: - Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL, Free) - Design Museum of Chicago (Chicago, IL, Free) - Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre (Nice, France) - L'artistique (Nice, France, Free) - Musée Peynet et du Dessin Humoristique (Antibes, France) - Museo di Sant'Agostino (Genoa, Italy) - Museo del Novecento (Milan, Italy) - San Jose Museum of Art (San Jose, CA) - Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL, Free)
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PERMANENT COLLECTION
The Juggler, 2010
David J. Foster
This sculpture is outside the building and technically belongs to the neighboring Discovery Center Museum.
Yellow Behr, 2014 Welded found steel
Deborah Butterfield American, b. 1949
Deborah Butterfield first began creating sculpture in the form of a horse in the 1970s using mud, clay and sticks. In 1977, she moved to a ranch in Montana and in 1979 began using scrap metal and found steel. Later, she began making bronze work, cast from "stray, downed pieces of wood." Born and raised in San Diego, Butterfield received her BA and MFA from the University of California, Davis. From the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, she taught sculpture at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and at Montana State University, Bozeman. Since 1976, she has exhibited extensively with more than 50 solo shows at major museums across the country.
A NOTE FROM THE DONORS —
We selected this sculpture to donate to Rockford Art Museum for several reasons. First, the artist, Deborah Butterfield, ranks amongst the top sculptors of our day. Her work is owned by over 100 museums, including some of America's most prestigious; New York's Metropolitan and Whitney, Washington's Hirschhorn, Chicago's Contemporary, and Art Institute, to mention a few. Her work has been acquired by a myriad of America's foremost collectors. Secon the horse is an object all ages can relate to. Third, her ability to use found objects to achieve elegant results is inspirational to art admirers, artists and would be artists. Fourth, the material in this sculpture, like many of her welded horses, came from Joseph Behr & Sons, a scrap yard in Rockford, IL. Finally, in an era where recycling is regarded as essential, what better use of obsolete material to produce a truly beautiful object?
Gift of Lon and Richard Behr
(I had to line up the right shot to get the camel in the background with the horse in the foreground!)
Camel, 1991 Marker and paint on shaped wood panel
Howard Finster American, 1916 - 2001
Collection of Rockford Art Museum Gift of Diane and John Balsley
Playful Private Pricking, 1982 Acrylic on canvas
Ray Yoshida American, 1930 - 2009
Collection of Rockford Art Museum Gift of Rancis and June Spiezer
Tags: #travel#travelblog#wanderlust#rockford#illinois#museum#art#contemporary#cute#giftshop