On the occasion of its 100th anniversary in 2015, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts asked some of the finest writers, photographers, and illustrators working today to muse about art—the nature of creativity and wonder. No instructions. No rules. The MIA commissioned these imaginative works not as a celebration of itself but of art as inspiration—an anthology of wonder.

The contributors rose to the challenge with fiction, essays, photojournalism, and illustrated stories, by turns delightful and reflective, a contemporary argument for art’s ongoing vitality. Interspersed in the book are personal reflections from the museum’s own director, curators, and staff on beloved artworks in its collection.