Welcome to Groupon, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City! For our inaugural deal, $4 for Two Tickets at Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. Since this is everyone's first Groupon, allow us to briefly explain how it works.

How Groupon Works

Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, we offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Cedar Rapids/Iowa City: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won't find anywhere else. We call it "collective buying power."

If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (5 for today's deal) sign up by the end of the day, you'll be emailed a gift certificate the next morning. You can print your Groupons, or redeem them with our mobile app. Use them whenever you want until the deal expires—today's expires in six months. If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won't be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount!

Today's Deal

Life imitates art, which is why all babies are born covered in a thick coat of paint. Find inspiration for the next phase of your life with today's Groupon: for $4, you get two admission tickets (up to a $10 value) to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, located downtown on Third Avenue SE.

Voted the number-four museum in 2010 by CityVoters, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses eight exhibitions spanning from Roman antiquity to the present. The colossal collection, with more than 7,200 works, is principally populated by American art, with a soft spot for the first half of the 20th century. The museum also owns the world's largest collection of work by regional artist Grant Wood, famous for the iconic painting American Gothic, which portrays morose Midwestern teenagers dressed as famous cathedrals.

Visitors can nod appreciatively and whisper sweet nothings about current exhibits such as Goya's Disasters of War (through December 12), considered one of the earliest forms of war journalism. Also hanging around is The Grant Wood Window: Drawings for the Veterans Memorial Stained Glass Window Commission (through November 14), the first display of the complete set of drawings Wood used to design the window. Sliding in for the fall season is the new exhibit China: Insights, New Photography from the People's Republic (through December 31), which features the work of seven contemporary Chinese photographers.

Upon entering the museum's towering, flora-filled atrium, visitors will find a helpful staff happy to consider the suggestion to go 3-D with their paintings and answer any difficult questions, such as "Where is Goya located? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind." The museum is also kid-friendly, and offers free admission to all visitors 18 and under. Drawing enthusiasts are encouraged to bring sketchbooks to capture their favorite works of art in quickly constructed paper cages. Computers also meet the welcome wagon with the recent addition of free wireless Internet in the free WiFi area, and the museum store also has a PC available for public use.

Reviews

Although Cedar Rapids Museum of Art patrons haven't written many reviews, seven Insider Pagers give the museum an average of four stars:

• …The museum itself has a lot of local artwork, from Grant Wood, to Marvin Cone, to some more current works. It's fun to take friends from out of town to visit the museum and gift shop. – Kate V., Insider Pages
• My children and I always enjoy a visit to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. It is easy to find located across the street from Green Square Park in downtown Cedar Rapids…Its a fun and educational way to spend an afternoon. – Andrea W., Insider Pages