Campus Lending Collection

The MIT List Visual Arts Center has reduced campus lending viewing appointments due to the ongoing audit of the entire art collection on campus. Calendar appointments are available on a rotating monthly basis. If there are no longer appointments available, please check back at the beginning of each month. Make your appointment here.

MIT’s Campus Lending Collection comprises over 3,000 works. Works in this collection are made available to administration, faculty, and staff for their office or shared office spaces through our Campus Loan Art Program. The selection here showcases a few works by artists in our collection while we are working towards digitizing our collection. 

The Campus Lending Collection grows through generous gifts of art. To learn more about making a gift of art or to support the care and conservation of our collection visit here. 

Conservation Projects

As caretakers of MIT’s collection, we oversee artworks installed throughout campus. In order to care for our collection for the enjoyment of lenders for generations to come we annually audit and inspect our collection and determine projects for conservation with painting and paper conservators. 

Image of two conservators sitting on the floor wearing blue gloves working on repairing a large scale red painting.
Image of two conservators wearing blue gloves working on repairing a large scale red painting. The person on the left side is standing while the person on the right side is sitting on the floor.
Large oil on canvas painting leaning against a white wall undergoes restoration. A small blue machine with a bright yellow vent tube is on a table in front of the painting on the right lower side of the image.

Large-Scale Artworks

A selection of large artworks is available in our Campus Lending Collection, which could be well suited for shared office spaces. Learn more about opportunities for available work by visiting our lending program’s webpage for more information.

Large abstract painting comprised of a collection of predominantly blue and black patterned squares hanging on a cream colored wall above a row of chairs.
Large abstract painting comprised of maroon and light blue geometric shapes hanging on a cement wall above a wood staircase with purple painted railings.

Hear from participants

"I love seeing how people react to the space. People really enjoy it and are not expecting an aesthetic experience when they come into a random professor's office. It seems like it’s challenging what others may think an office can look like."

Tess Smidt
Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

A young woman wearing all black stands in her office with a teal wall on the left, two framed artworks on the left wall and one large artwork on the back wall.