The Art Institute of Chicago

 Early arrival at the Art Institute of Chicago.  We have been looking forward to this visit for a while since we have been exploring the art museums in the various states that we have visited and Europe.  I was taken aback by the $23 fee to get into the museum when other places have been free with a request for a donation.  I know that I have never paid this much to get into a museum before and that includes the Louvre.  John reminded me that they are

  actively trying to acquire more art and therefore I should just accept it, but I have to admit that it has led to some severe expectations on my part.  We started in ancient India, Rome and Greece and there were many good works of Shiva, Ganesh, and Buddha, but the 

 Roman and Greek stuff were not that great.  They have busts and mosaics, but they are not shown well and were not that striking.  They had some treasures from the British museum on display that were well kept examples of jewelry, silverware of ancient times. 

 Back through these things to go back to the Chagall windows and the stock exchange floor that are in the back of the museum.  Over and up to the Modern art wing and there were some interesting pieces up there.  In retrospect, the Art Institute of Chicago has obviously made 

modern art and impressionism their main acquisitions, so they can be forgiven for being sorely lacking in Baroque, Medieval, and other art periods.  Maybe I should check myself before I wreck myself as John would say.  I don’t know what the Art Institute has decided to do with their collection, I just know that I didn’t feel about this museum the way that I felt in Indianapolis or Toledo.  Ali suggested that maybe Chicago didn’t have the big benefactor like the other museums, like Eli Lilly Pharm in Indy, but IT IS CHICAGO!!! I know that there is funding here. 

Sorry, had to get over my rant…anyway, to the good parts.  They had an exhibition on Impression and

Fashion that was going on at this time and I have to say that this exhibition made the visit for me.  Now, I see what all the fuss is about.  They had huge canvases by Monet, Manet, Renoir with specific pieces of clothing and then the dress that mirrored the painting across the way from it with a mirror behind it to reflect the painting.  The original dress in  some cases.  They had a whole room of picnicking, boating, and outdoors 

  promenading paintings in with faux grass on the floor, so you could feel like you were part of the party.  The works were fabulous.  They must have stolen the entire Musee D’Orsay in Paris 

because about 12 works were borrowed from there and it was interesting to see things that we saw in Paris two years ago in Chicago today.  And the Seurat they are famous for is the end of the exhibition, but it was eclipsed by the Caillebotte in the room before, I thought.  All of them stunning though.  We couldn’t take pictures in the exhibition, but there were two whole rooms of Monet upstairs, some fabulous Renoirs, and plenty other impressionists to go through.  Enjoy the pictures.  jo