Hans Haacke was influenced by Conceptual artists Marcel Broodthaers (1924-76) and Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). Both artists worked with found objects and collages to create their works. From 1968 to 1975, Broodthaers produced large-scale environmental pieces that reworked the very notion of the museum, which included Musée d’Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles (1968). Duchamp’s Readymades helped to change the definition of what was considered to be art. In creating these works, Broodthaers and Duchamp challenged the traditional museum notions of what art is and what it is not, much like Haacke’s earlier works.

Hans Haacke helped influence Mark Lombardi (1951-2000), who specialized in drawings that document alleged financial and political frauds by power brokers. In the early 1990s, Lombardi began researching the many scandals of the time, including the BCCI, the Harken Energy, and the Savings and Loan scandals. His works draw inspiration form Haacke and produces works that, although not Institutional Critiques, are critical of financial greed of politicians and corporations. Through the Institutional Critique, Hans Haacke helped, in a way, pave the way for the Guerrilla Girls (1985-present), an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world through bringing racial and gender inequalities in museums to light.