[1] Lying between Lake Michigan to the east and the Loop to the west, Grant Park has been Chicago's front yard since the mid 19th century.

Its northwest corner, north of Monroe Street and the Art Institute, east of Michigan Avenue, south of Randolph Street, and west of Columbus Drive, had been Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as Millennium Park.

[1] The galleries were commissioned in December 2004 (after the park's first summer),[5] and they provide necessary formal space for the presentation of public exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.

[6] Boeing also previously funded the Family Album photograph exhibition that debuted in Millennium Park during its opening weekend.

[1][10] The exhibit featured 100 images from Chicago metropolitan area taken on 50 flights that occurred between March 2003 and August 2004 at various seasons of the year.

[12] The exhibition was curated by Penelope Hobhouse and presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Millennium Park with support from The Boeing Company and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

[14] The production schedule for the photomural formatted photography used was longer than expected, which led to the week-long delay in opening the exhibition.

[16] The gallery hosted Mark di Suvero, whose large-scale abstract expressionism sculptures were on display from April 17, 2007 – October 12, 2008.

[18][19] Chicago Tribune art critic Alan G. Artner felt that the installation was a bit cramped in the Boeing Galleries.

[21] In March 2009, the park announced its plans to install four large-scale contemporary outdoor works by Chinese sculptors in Boeing Galleries from April 9 – October 2010.

The open-work sculpture "Windy City Dinosaur," created by Sui Jianguo stamped with the phrase "Made in China" is a critique on the cheap mass-produced goods that are building the Chinese export economy.

"Kowtow Pump," is a caricature of the oil rigs by Shen Shaomin that will have limited Thursday active display times from June 11 through Aug. 27.

[29] The city describes Domenge's sculptures as unifying perceived opposites and harmonizing apparent dissonances by geometrically referencing the natural world.

Domenge's spheres defy gravity and space, conveying a rhythmic beauty and a sense of a larger universal order.

[30] The Boeing installation's spheres are said to express a type of beauty that pays respect to a larger universal order with reference to biological examples.

She feels that the spheres on exhibit in the South gallery depict the geometric perfection of the cosmos and that the celebrate this in a "festival of color and form".

[35] Standing at 20 feet (6.10 m) tall,[36] three of the works (Laura, Paula, and Inez) were located in the South Boeing Galleries.

[40] Curated by John Vinci and Hamp Architects, the display features over 58 images of Millennium Park before, during, and after construction, showcasing work done by 16 photographers.