I would suggest that you start on a floor and work floor by floor. The European Art is a great place to start. You can even go century by century. I would suggest seeing some of the middle-ages works and then progressing onward. It is easier to track how art forms have changed over the centuries and it makes the appreciation of the artwork more this way. Don’t miss the pictures by the French impressionists: Monet, Degas, Renoir, the lists goes on. There is nothing quite like seeing a picture that is in every history and art book up close.

I always found that the Ancient collection very interesting as well. It is great for people that may appreciate history more than art. Here there is a great combination of both. There are coins, vases, glass, jewelry, and more to look at. It describes the lives of the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and many more. It is also a welcome change for those that may not enjoy looking at paintings for hours on end.

The section of American artwork is highly impressive. With everyone from Georgia O’Keefe to Winslow Homer being honored in this section of the Art institute. Also, make sure to take a look at American Gothic, for those that don’t remember your art history it is the picture of farmer (with his pitchfork) and his wife done by Grant Wood.

The museum has an extensive contemporary art collection in as well. Here you will see everything from one red line painted across a white canvas, to photographs that have been adjusted by the artists. It is a good place to see the range that isn’t often discussed in Contemporary art. Lichtenstein, Hockney, and Warhol are just a few of the names that are hanging somewhere on the walls.

Yet, my favorite part of the Art Institute hands down is the Thorne Rooms. They are the miniature replications of a European and American rooms spanning from sixteenth century to the 1940s. There are 68 rooms in all and they are highly detailed with everything from place settings in the dining rooms to fountains in the courtyard. Personally, I could spend hours here and I suggest that it is worth a view for everyone.

In addition the museum shop is very well stocked, and there are prices and gifts for all walks of paper. There is more here than just reprints of famous paintings. There are unique gifts for everyone, I even know people that do all there Christmas shopping in this gift shop.

The Art Institute of Chicago is a fabulous art museum. It has a picture, sculpture, photograph, or suit of armor for everyone. I would strongly suggest you going to Art Institute.

Website: www.artic.edu

TRAVEL TIP: Because it was so late in the day, the ticket person asked us what we wanted to pay to get into the museum. We said $4, and we meant $4 each, for a total of $8. However, the ticket person charged us only the $4! So, if you arrive with less than an hour before closing, you can get in without paying full price. Just make an offer.

With our tickets in hand we went straight upstairs to the Impressionist Exhibit to see A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, a painting most people remember from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the painting the museum is most known for. I absolutely love this painting, not just because of the scene, but because of the technique. The painting is comprised of hundreds of thousands of tiny dots (think of a dot-matrix printer). At 10 feet wide and 6 feet high, imagine the time and energy spent doing that by hand. We spent what little time we had viewing this painting and all the Impressionist paintings, such as Monet and Renoir, and more modern works, such as those of Picasso.

MUSEUM TIP: Do not use the flash to take photos. Light from the flash will fade the paintings. You can take photos without flash because there is plenty of light inside the museum.

Upon leaving the museum, we made many purchases in the gift shop, including a miniature replica of La Grande Jatte, a miniature Monet, and some postcards. Outside on the front steps, we were treated to a concert of young street performers who played buckets like drums and had quite a crowd of museum-goers putting money into their hats. They played until a cop car drove by and blared his siren at them, and the boys picked up their drums and ran across the street (where we saw them 5 minutes later dividing up the money). We guessed they didn't have a permit to perform for money on the street. What an afternoon; Ferris Bueller eat your heart out!

The Art Institute welcomes a new director this year (James Cuno) and also has changed a long-standing Chicago favorite: the Tuesday free admission day will no longer be the night they are open late. Instead, extended hours will be on Thursdays. The museum is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas, from 10:30am to 4:30pm weekdays and 10:30am to 5pm on weekends. The Art Institute has a "suggested admission" policy, which means "Pay what you wish but you must pay something." Adults suggested admission has been raised to $12.

The Art Institute is located on the west side of Grant Park in the heart of Downtown. From the main entrance on Michigan Avenue, you are presented with several choices of directions. The museum is basically shaped like a giant "E". To your right, as you enter, is the Museum Shop, an extensive and high quality gift shop (for which you can also shop via Internet). However, all exhibits are beyond the entry desk, either up the Grand Staircase or beyond it.

Downstairs, there is the Garden Restaurant, which is good although a little pricey (as most museum cafés tend to be), the Textiles hall, an extensive paperweight collection (I love this gallery - I find glass working fascinating), European Decorative Arts, Architecture, Photography, and various classroom/workshop spaces. I have not been through these rooms as much, but there are some very nice pieces here. (You’d think that somebody who loves photography as much as I do would have, at least, seen the Photography gallery!)

On the entry level, close to the entrance, you will find the African and Ancient American galleries, Contemporary Art, and the Oriental galleries (Chinese, Japanese and Korean). To reach the Sculpture Court, American, Indian/Southeast Asian, and Ancient (Egyptian/Greek/Etruscan/Roman) galleries, you walk through the Arms and Armor exhibit. I love the AI's Arms & Armor exhibit - it's probably my favorite part of the museum. There is a fairly sizeable collection, with one of their most noteworthy pieces being a set of ornate Italian inlaid armor.

Upstairs, you can find their extensive European, Impressionism/post-Impressionism, and Modern galleries, as well as their Special Exhibitions hall, which plays hosts to several major exhibitions per year. In fact, the AI is often the solitary American stop on some major art tours. Some past exhibits the Art Institute has hosted have included Monet and the Sea, a Rembrandt perspective, Van Gogh and Gauguin, and Chinese arts.

The best times to go for a visit are weekdays afternoons, when the school tours have gone for the day and you'll find the museum is a bit quieter. Allow a minimum of 2 hours for your visit - there is lots of wonderful art to be explored!

Among the most famous works of art in the Art Institute's collections are the first that you will encounter on your visit. The pair of bronze lions standing guard at the main entrance to the museum on Michigan Avenue was unveiled on May 10, 1894 and was adopted almost instantaneously by Chicagoans as a proud symbol of the city's most prestigious art museum. Over the years the lions have come to symbolize the strength of the city, appearing on guidebook covers and tour maps.

Lions as guardians have an ancient history. The fierceness, strength, and grace of the regal animal led people in early history to adopt it as a symbol of royalty and guardianship. The Lion Gate at Mycenae (1300 BC), the parade of lions on the walls of Babylon (6th Cent. BC), and Emperor Asoka's lion columns in India (240 BC) are only a few examples. The Art Institute lions follow that famous tradition.

The lions that guard the entrance today were derived from two lions that were previously sculpted for the Palace of Fine Arts at the World's Columbian Exposition. The lion that watchfully stands on the north side of the entrance with his tail arched in attention is said to be "On the Prowl", while the other big cat that guards the south side of the museum was christened "Defiance" .

Their creator Edward Kemys was a self taught sculptor who was the most famous of the 19th-century school of animal sculptors. His artistic philosophy was to shun any sculpture that needed a professor to explain it.

I am certain that the artist would approve all the years of attention that the lion pair has had. Countless hands have rubbed away the patina on their tails and millions of photos have been taken by tourists and residents alike take standing beside these icons. They have there own special annual winter ceremonial day when the "Wreathing of the Lions" announces that the Christmas season in Chicago has officially begun. The Holiday lights can then be lit and shopping begins in earnest!

Way back in 1986, these lions where the first to celebrate the Bear’s Super Bowl victory by proudly donning custom made blue and orange team helmets. And more recently, when the entrance portico was under going reconstruction in 2000 the lions were one by one gingerly, carefully relocated to the North Garden by a specialized crew. For the duration of the renovation of their side of the entry, the bronze creatures lived in their own patina dens like their real cousins and being treated just like the celebrities that they are to Chicagoans.