Detroit Institute of Arts Museum

Detroit’s huge art collection is largely a result of this city’s former wealthy days. Like any big museum, the institute boasts the usual suspects (Van Goghs and Monets), but more than anything, go for Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry Murals. If you haven’t heard of him, Rivera (husband of famous painter Frida Kahlo) was a deeply political Mexican muralist. All of his murals carry strong Marxist themes and celebration of the workers, which made all his murals pretty controversial in the right-winged McCarthy days. He came to Detroit when it was the biggest manufacturing operation in the world, and his paintings celebrate the Ford factory as a revolutionary force for the worker. That didn’t stop the DIA from putting a sign up during the fifties that distanced themselves from his leftist politics, but it’s somewhat miraculous that the mural exists at all. It’s one of the few Rivera murals to be commissioned outside of Mexico, so don’t miss it if you get the chance.