Our last day in Chicago was a little more laid back. Mark slept in (the children have completely destroyed my ability to sleep in!), then we grabbed some breakfast and walked over to the Art Institute of Chicago.
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
This place was amazing! And ENORMOUS! I felt like a kid in a candy store.
We both immediately felt a little overwhelmed with how much there was to see. I didn’t want to miss anything! Luckily, they had a handout of all the can’t miss items in the museum. This helped guide us a little bit.
Impressionism
The area I wanted to do FIRST because I didn’t want to feel rushed at all was the Impressionism section. I have been obsessed with impressionism art ever since I can remember. I remember learning about Claude Monet in elementary school and he has been my favorite artist of all time ever since. I love how impressionism art makes me feel. I was so excited to see everything and it did not disappoint.
We saw Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884”. This was so interesting to see up close – and it was MASSIVE!
AND they had an entire room dedicated to Claude Monet so I was pretty much in heaven. We saw several painting from his water lily series (which are my favorite) as well as his Stacks of Wheat.
We definitely took our time in the impressionism section and I had no regrets about that! Then we headed off to see some of the other amazing works of art.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
Some of the highlights were: El Greco’s “The Assumption of the Virgin”, the medieval armor, the Ando Gallery (I’m not going to lie – I really struggle with contemporary art and really didn’t get this but we saw it, took it in, and moved on), the “Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation”, Archibald John Motleys, Jr.’s “Nightlife”, and Marc Chagall’s “American Windows”.
We were getting pretty tired at this point and grabbed some lunch at the Institute. Last up was modern and contemporary art.
MODERN ART
Guys, I WANT to like and understand this type of art. But I just don’t get it. I really don’t. I don’t know how you can go from pretty much any other art period of the world and then look at contemporary and modern art and have the same feeling.
I think it will forever be ingrained in my memory an experience I had while I was on an AP Art History trip to San Francisco my senior year of high school. We were in a museum in the contemporary section and there was this huge canvas that was entirely blank but had a giant red dot in the circle. And there was someone sitting in front of it…crying…because they were so moved by it. I remember standing in front of it trying to understand and I just can’t get there.
Also, if I have offended anyone with my opinions of modern art, I apologize. Teach me!
BACK TO CHICAGO…We did get to see quite a few Pablo Picasso paintings, most notably his “The Old Guitarist”. Mark and I tried really hard to get some feeling from Joan Mitchell’s “City Landscape” and I think we just concluded that we are country loving people. They also had a couple of Andy Warhol prints.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So to wrap it up – the Art Institute is AMAZING! They have something for EVERYONE! So if you appreciate any type of art I think it is worth your time. It was a great way to wrap up our whirlwind Chicago trip. Chicago is an exciting city, filled with good food and amazing buildings and museums.
