Art Institute

Uggg...I am SO behind in blogging!  

AND I realized that I never finished writing about our trip to Chicago!

Our last day in Chicago was more laid back-ish which was good because we were tired.  We slept in, or Mark slept in (the children have destroyed my ability to sleep in apparently), grabbed some breakfast and then walked over to the Art Institute of Chicago.  This place was amazing!  And ENORMOUS!  I felt like a kid in a candy store.

We immediately were overwhelmed with how much there was to see but I knew our first stop HAD to be the Impressionism section.  I have been obsessed with impressionism art ever since I can remember.  I love how it makes me feel.  I was so excited to see everything.  It did not disappoint.  We saw Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - 1884.  It was so interesting to see close up - and HUGE! 

And they had an entire room dedicated to Claude Monet who is my all-time favorite artist ever.  I was in heaven.  We saw several paintings from is water lilies series (which are my favorite) as well as his Stacks of Wheat. 

We definitely took our time in this section and we have no regrets about that.  We then went in search of some other must-sees in the museum. 

Next we headed over to the European Painting and Sculpture section, and most notably saw El Greco's The Assumption of the Virgin.  This was also a very large piece and was very interesting to learn more about. 

We went and looked at some of the medieval armor which was really interesting.  They had it displayed so cool and I definitely learned a lot. 

The Ando Gallery was...different.  This was one of those things that I know I was not getting (I struggle with contemporary art).  But we saw it, took it in, and moved on. 

We then walked through the Asian Art section and saw the Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation.  It is so fascinating to see art from all corners of the world and time.  Their current exhibit was about China - specifically their bronzes.  This went really well with the exhibit we had just seen the day before at the Field Museum. 

Next up was the American Art exhibit.  This was a bit of a downer.  We were really hoping to see the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood (you know the one with the man and woman farmer with the pitchfork).  But, sadly, it was on loan to another museum so we didn't get to see it.  We did see Archibald John Motley, Jr.'s Nightlife painting.  It was interesting to see his colors and style. 

We were definitely getting worn down at this point.  We had packed a TON into this weekend and I think we were just tired.  We grabbed some lunch to refuel and we kept going!

We stopped and looked at Marc Chagall's American Windows which were multiple stained glass windows that were really interesting to look at.  Who doesn't love stained glass?!

Last up was modern and contemporary art.  Guys, I want to like and understand this 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 be forever ingrained in my memory an experience I had while I was on an AP Art History trip in 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.  Anyway, that was a tangent.  BACK TO CHICAGO.   Also, if I have offended anyone with my opinions of modern art, I apologize.  Teach me.  

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.  

Long day but SO good.  The museum was incredible.  We then went back to our hotel and grabbed our bags and hopped on the train back to the airport.  We landed in Salt Lake at about 9:30 that night and headed back up to Garden City.  A BIG "thank you" to my parents for watching our kiddos for us so that we could enjoy this amazing weekend.  It was amazing to spend some time together and especially to watch John Williams.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime thing for me (and second for Mark ;)).