#1 Art Museum In The World---Art Institute Of Chicago

It's around 6:00 and I have been up for awhile because we want to be off for Kansas City by 7:00.  I just hope the roads are decent this early because we did have snow and rain last night and it's gotten quite cold.  But the forecast is for sunshine most of the way, once we leave this area.

Yesterday we went into Chicago around 10:30 but relaxed at home until then, as one after another Gill left for work or school.  Alex was the last to leave around 9:30, but won't return till 8:00 and Elaine was off before 6:00, to get a workout in before work.  What a woman! Elaine also made sure we would have an easy ingress and egress to Chicago.  She set us up with a L pass, a member pass to the Institute, as well as a map, outlining our walk from the Jackson L station to the art institute.  So we just walked a quarter of mile in a blizzard to the L station, slid down the ramp after using our pass, took a half hour ride into the city, then an indoor ramp out to Adams, a right to the the impressive facade of the Art Institute of Chicago.  We crossed the street, in another windy, blizzard like morning, with lots of tourists, mostly Asian, checked our coats, and we were off for a couple of hours of viewing.

We know our limit in a museum is somewhere around two hours, so we went to the Impressionists first, which, like most people, is a favorite.  We were shocked, however, by the major paintings in the various rooms, many I have talked about, even taught and discussed in my classes, but did not know they were here in Chicago.  And there is a room for each of the greats, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne,  and others like Pissarro, Seurat, etc.  It was an amazing conglomeration of impressionists, and no wonder its called the # 1 Museum in The World.  The building is an immense complex of rooms, of periods, easy to get lost actually and we never did find the sculptures I wanted to see.  Next time.  We ended the day visiting the miniatures, in the lower level, and they were amazing, replicas of various styles of rooms from the 1700's up to the 1900's.  Their detail is amazing, a French boudoir, a British library room, a Shaker kitchen, a Japanese living room, and our favorite, below, an Arts and Crafts dining room, similar to the Gills.  It was a great way to end our visit.  We followed our route in reverse, of course, took the train back, and walked back to the Gill's in a wet, snowy windy late afternoon.

Miniature Replica of A Frank Lloyd Wright Arts and Crafts Dining Room 

Pissarro's "Haying Time"

Pissarro's Place Du Havre, Paris

Monet Paints Norway

Toulouse Latarec's Moulin Rouge

Van Gogh's Room

Early Self Portrait, Van Gogh

A Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte by George Seurat

Close Up of Seurat's technique: pointillism 

Rodin's Balzac and Zorba

The next two pictures, one by Degas and one by my daughter Beth, a copy of The Millinery Shop that she accomplished in a couple of hours in an art class.

Edgar Degas's 'The Millinery Shop'

'The Millinery Shop' by Beth Albarran

We relaxed once we got home, both taking showers, as all the kids were still at school.  Jim picked up Kianna from gymnastics at 6:00, so it was wine time as we waited for Elaine to return from the city.
Around 7:00, Jim went out to pick up some sushi and Chinese, both quite good, a perfect dinner for our last night with the Gills.   We then spent the evening talking about the Ferguson decision, at least the adults did, and we were shocked at the outcome although none of us know the 'facts.' I wonder at the make up of the jury because I am sure if there were many blacks on it, there's no way there would be 'no probable cause.'  It reminds me of the OJ trial, where skin color determined whether OJ was guilty or not.  This does not seem quite the same.