In the early 1960s, Owen and Leone Elliott of Cedar Rapids (shown left) offered the University their extensive collection of 20th-century paintings, prints, antique silver, and jade on the condition that a Museum be built to house their gift, along with the University's existing and future acquisitions of art. In response to this challenge, more than 2,000 individuals and businesses contributed funds for the Museum's construction.

The UIMA opened in 1969, although the art collections of the University of Iowa predate the Museum of Art by several decades. During the 1940s and 1950s, the University's School of Art and Art History presented exhibitions of contemporary art and acquired works from these exhibitions. Many of the Museum's most important paintings were acquired during these years, including Max Beckmann's Karneval, and Joan Miró's 1939 A Drop of Dew Falling from the Wing of a Bird Awakens Rosalie Asleep in the Shade of a Cobweb. Jackson Pollock's Mural was given to the University by Peggy Guggenheim in 1953.

The Museum quickly earned recognition as one of the nation's finest university art museums. A gift from the late industrialist Roy Carver, of Muscatine, Iowa, made possible the construction of a major addition, which opened in 1976 and housed the University of Iowa Foundation and the University of Iowa Alumni Association in addition to portions of the Museum. Maxwell and Elizabeth Stanley also of Muscatine, collected African art throughout the 1970s and in 1979, most of their collection came to the Museum.

The Alumni Association and UI Foundation moved out in 1999, leaving the entire 70,000 square feet of the building to the Museum of Art. In the summer of 2003, the long-awaited renovation of the former Alumni Center, or north wing, of the building began. Nearly 30,000 square feet of the building was gutted and substantial changes were made to the mechanical systems and spaces in the basement as well. The kitchens, offices, meeting rooms, etc. left behind by the UI Foundation and Alumni Association became galleries, store rooms, and work spaces.

The North Gallery for Special Exhibitions debuted in the Fall of 2004, along with a remodeled Lasansky Room and the Nancy and Craig Willis Atrium (shown below). The old Print Study Room was converted into the Hoover-Paul Gallery for Works on Paper. The North Gallery added an additional 6,000 square feet of exhibition space to the Museum for a total of 30,000 square feet for exhibitions.

In June 2008, the UIMA was flooded and forced to evacuate its collections. Working nearly non-stop during the week of June 9, the Museum staff, art movers, and volunteers evacuated artworks totaling approximately 99 percent of the value of our collection before the floodwaters forced the closure of the UIMA on Friday, June 13.

In the weeks following the flood, the remaining art was evacuated to join the rest of the collection in secure art storage in Chicago. Meanwhile, the UIMA worked to secure alternative locations on- and off-campus to make the art accessible to its public.

In January 2009, the Figge Art Museum in Davenport offered the UIMA space in its state-of-the-art building for storage and exhibitions until a permanent home on the UI campus becomes available. In March, the UIMA began moving its collection to the Figge. In July, the Museum finished its initial inventory of the objects.

Overall, about 200 objects needed some form of treatment by the conservators at Chicago Conservation Center because of the flood. Nearly all have been cared for and are now in storage at the Figge. UIMA works already slated for conservation before the flood—mainly African objects—will remain in Chicago to receive the treatment they require.

In August 2009, the UIMA opened a new on-campus art venue in the Iowa Memorial Union. The "UIMA@IMU," funded almost entirely by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), features more than 500 objects from the UIMA permanent collections, selected specifically to meet classroom needs.

Also in August, UI President Sally Mason announced the formation of an Envisioning Committee for the UIMA. Composed of community members, UI faculty, and UI students, the Committee is charged with evaluating best practices for university and college art museums and thinking about how the UIMA can best serve the needs of its constituents moving forward. The Envisioning Committee will deliver its report in early 2010.