The Art Institute houses a comprehensive collection of medieval art made in Europe over a period of 500 years.

It features both religious works and objects of daily use in a variety of media, including painting and sculpture, luxury metalwork and stained glass, textiles and manuscript illumination.

Major collections of arms and armor, jewelry, ceramics, and tapestries, along with paintings and sculpture, vividly demonstrate the ceremony of life in the Renaissance era in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.