The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn. Begun in 1879 as the personal art gallery of lumberman Thomas Barlow Walker, it was formally established as a public art gallery in 1927—the first of its kind in the Upper Midwest. With the support of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, which was establishing community art centers nationwide, the Walker Art Galleries became the Walker Art Center in January 1940. The Walker celebrated its 75th anniversary as a public art center in 2015.