Art Institute Afternoons

Garage Clothing coat (c/o Ivanhoe Cambridge) (similar)
Noul sweater (similar)
Mavi jeans (c/o)
Aldo boots
Vintage Coccinelle handbag (similar)
Mango necklace
Mejuri earrings (c/o) (similar)
Location: The Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois

When we booked our trip to Chicago, we agreed that we wouldn’t try to do too much or pack too many activities into our four-day visit. But there was one tourist attraction I absolutely insisted we could not miss: the Art Institute.

I love art. We just talked about that recently. (In fact, one of the things I ordered to help keep myself occupied during the pandemic is a set of acrylic paints. It doesn’t really matter that I haven’t picked up a paintbrush in over a decade. I have all the time in the world to get back in practise now.) And the Art Institute in Chicago is home to works by so many of my favourite artists – Degas, Mancini, Brancusi, Magritte, Chagall… and the list goes on. Despite the crowds, which are inevitable, especially in the impressionist rooms and especially on a Saturday afternoon, I would never miss an opportunity to visit the Art Institute.

The impressionist rooms pull me in, just like everyone else. But there is so much of the Art Institute, like many large museums with varied collections, that goes under appreciated. On this visit, I found myself particularly impressed by the modern Asian ceramics collection on display. The extent and beauty of the Buddhist art on display, and the beautiful natural light filtering into the room where it is displayed, nearly took my breath away.

And I couldn’t miss a visit to The Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room, tucked away in back corner that few visitors find. The room is not just a replica but the actual stock trading floor as it was built in 1984. The city demolished the stock exchange building in the seventies, but before they did, the room was disassembled, packed, transported and reassembled, over a period of two years, within the Art Institute. (The Art Institute rents it out as a wedding venue. It’s probably better that I didn’t know that in 2010, or I would have insisted on a destination wedding.)

As I always do in art museums, I spent most of my time dawdling among the various sculpture collections. Ancient or modern, it doesn’t much matter – I love them all. We did find a few temporary exhibits we didn’t fall in love with – video as an art form, particularly displayed in a museum, continues to baffle me. And the experience of walking into a dark room halfway through a video presented on a constant loop, fumbling to find an empty chair and spending the next ten minutes pondering the possible meaning of what I’m watching never seems to get anymore pleasant. (I love a good movie. But in a theatre, with popcorn.)

The point isn’t to love everything; it’s to experience everything and find what you love. And there is so much to love at the Art Institute. I know it may be a while before we’re back again, a fact that I can (reluctantly) accept. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not already looking forward to my next visit.

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