the other artistic capital of the United States

Of course, the cradle of automobile manufacturing in the world does not rival cities like Boston or New York, but the metropolis of Michigan, facing Canada, is home to museums that are far from anecdotal.

Detroit is an industrial side, but also a cultural one. The DIA, the Detroit Museum of Arts, is even one of the largest in the country. It’s impossible to miss the bright white neoclassical building, which overlooks Woodward Avenue, the city’s main artery, explains Stéphanie Rodriguez, real estate agent in Detroit.

“The building is a hundred years old, details the Frenchwoman, it’s quite diverse. You can see street art and photographs. And there, we are in a charming little indoor café. What’s interesting about this museum is that, first of all, it’s free if you live nearby and it offers a lot of activities for young children.”

Created in 1885, the museum houses 60,000 works. After Detroit’s bankruptcy in 2013, the authorities eyed these treasures to fill their bloodless coffers, but the museum management managed to save its Rembrandts, Van Gogh and other Matisses.

The DIA collection is estimated today at more than $8.5 billion. The centerpiece of the museum is a monumental fresco from the 1930s, 27 panels covering the four walls of the entrance hall.

Funded by the Ford factories, the work represents the workers of the automobile industry as well as the technological advances of the time. Because until the 1950s, Detroit was the third largest city in the United States, before its decline and rebirth.

This route is detailed across the street in the Detroit History Museum. The DIA is also not far from Wayne State University, where you can spend hours strolling the pedestrian walkways.

Art has always been present in Detroit, testifies Antoine Dubeauclard, governor at the Cranbrook Art Museum, a half-hour drive from downtown Detroit.

“We are from time to time a little obscured by this giant automobile industry, we have large companies like Ford, historically, GM and Chrysler, but it is true that there is a very interesting culture from the point of view of the arts , whether it’s museums, but there are also plenty of other cultural elements like Motown music, and techno, also originating here. There are many elements that are little recognized worldwide but very present here. “

The city of Detroit also experienced a bohemian culture, notes the Frenchman, at the time of the great bankruptcy of 2013 : “It brought a whole group of people who came here to develop studios, it wasn’t expensive. And there is also this community of artisans, who make things. So we mix art with artisans and this bohemian culture, it creates interesting things.”

Witness, the “Heidelberg project”a surprising open-air museum in the northeast of Detroit, where faced with the neglect of its working-class neighborhood, the artist Tyree Guyton tries to put the residents in the spotlight.

“The population of Detroit was very high in the 20s and 30s and dropped a lot. And in these places where the buildings became disused, people took them as works of art, they really became subjects of “art, and to make these things that might be perceived as dilapidated places, to become artistic arts.”

Since 2017, Detroit authorities have brought theaters and stadiums back to the city center to create entertainment in the evenings and weekends.

Go further

Detroit Tourism Office (Michigan)

The DIA Museum (Detroit Institute of Arts Museum)

The Cranbrook Museum of Contemporary Art, in metropolitan Detroit

Find this column on the app, the site and in the international mobility magazine Français à l’enseignement.fr

The Motown Museum (Hitsville Museum)