Minnesota State Capitol artwork

The Minnesota State Capitol opened in 1905 with roughly 60 artworks that totaled $300,000, or 7% of the $4.5-million project budget. Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Capitol building, had envisioned that the artworks would add "educational value" and provide for the "advancement of civilization and intelligence." Over the years, more artworks would be added to the Capitol, totaling nearly 150 by 2017. Much of the Capitol art is allegorical, as expressed through murals and sculptures, while some feature key moments in Minnesota history. While the allegorical symbolism used in the paintings would have been more widely understood during the time they were painted, over time the meanings have been challenged.

The Capitol rotunda, and each of the three chambers contain important murals expressed in allegorical symbolism created by Edward Emerson Simmons, Kenyon Cox, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Henry Oliver Walker, John La Farge. The four Supreme Court Chamber murals were painted by La Farge to illustrate four key moments in the history of law. The Minnesota House Chamber features a sculpture by Carlo Brioschi called the Minnesota Spirit of Government which features Sacagawea, and French explorers. The Minnesota Senate Chamber contains two murals by Edwin Blashfield; Minnesota: Granary of the World shows Minnesota as a leader in agriculture, Civil War contributions and the transition to mechanization. The second mural, Discoverers and Civilizers Led to the Source of the Mississippi depicts Native Americans and the spirit of Manitou at the headwaters of Mississippi surrounded by "discoverers" and "civilizers" who are guided from above by angelic beings signifying divine manifest destiny. Decorating the interior of the dome, Elmer Garnsey and his assistant Arthur Willett created the twelve zodiac lunettes as well as lunettes on either side of the east and west grand staircases. Arguably the most familiar allegorical work at the Capitol is gilded sculpture group, The Progress of the State sculpted by Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter seated above the main south entrance of the Capitol.

Multiple groups, notably American Civil War veterans and the Minnesota Historical Society along with politicians demanded that the artwork in the Capitol illustrate historic events of Minnesota's past and this resulted in the addition of six large paintings on Minnesota history in the Governor's Reception Room by artists Douglas Volk, Francis D. Millet, Howard Pyle, and Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum. In alcoves on the second floor of the Capitol, rotunda stand the larger-than-life statues of American Civil War heroes John B. Sanborn, Alexander Wilkin, William Colvill, and James Shields by sculptors John Karl Daniels, Catherine Backus, and Frederick Cleveland Hibbard. These works have been criticized by former Governor Mark Dayton, stating they should be replaced with new artwork that broadens the representation of Minnesota.^[1]

In 1971 the Minnesota Historical Society along with the Capitol Area Architectural Planning Board (CAAPB) were given control of all works of art and they created a "Policy for Works of Art in the Minnesota State Capitol" to define the process, procedures and guidelines for new art. From 2013 to 2017 the building underwent a $310 million extensive restoration. This included comprehensive cleaning and restoration of historic paintings, murals, and sculptures as well as decorative elements around and outside the building.^[2] During the renovation, numerous paintings were criticized for their portrayals of Native Americans and were either moved to locations where expanded interpretation could be given or were removed from the building entirely.