I visited the Art Institute of Chicago today – alone as Ooma was feeling unwell. It was my second visit, the first one being when I was in high school, so it was at least 55 years ago. I didn’t remember the building or the location, but I remembered some of the art.
Getting there was surprisingly easy. Our hotel was in Lombard which put us between 40 and 90 minutes away, depending on traffic. I waited until midday so I got the 40-minute end of the spectrum. I was also unsure that parking would be available, but I found the Grant Park South underground garage to be only about 75% full. I was surprised, when I ascended to ground level in the elevator, to be just a half block from the museum. Easy peasy.
This museum has a wide variety of very valuable art of all kinds, but I was primarily interested in the impressionist and American paintings. They have all the greats in those categories – van Gogh, Renoir, Gauguin, Monet, Seurat, Cezanne, Pissarro, Cassatt. Degas, Kandinsky, Klee, Picasso, Dali, O’Keefe, Mondrian, Sargent, Homer, Whistler, Hopper, Warhol. Every room has something that is familiar.
A great art museum.
I also got to see downtown Chicago for the first time in many years. It looked clean and shiny – shinier than Manhattan. I drove around a bit but couldn’t stop to take photos. Still, a good trip into downtown Chicago.
