The Walker Art Center was founded in 1879 by lumber baron Thomas Barlow Walker. Walker originally intended for the art center to be a general interest museum, with paintings, sculptures, and other artifacts from around the world. However, by the early 1900s, the Walker Art Center began to focus more on contemporary art. In 1927, the Walker Art Center held an exhibition of modernist paintings by Pablo Picasso, which helped to solidify its reputation as a leading institution for contemporary art.

In the decades that followed, the Walker Art Center continued to exhibit cutting-edge contemporary art. It also expanded its campus to include several additional buildings, including a cinema and performance space. Today, the Walker Art Center is still considered one of the best contemporary art museums in the United States. Visitors can see rotating exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as permanent collections of paintings, sculptures, and other works of art.