by melissabowman on February 12, 2013
When we plan trips as a family we each pick a couple of things we really want to do. Of course since my boys are huge baseball lovers they picked the baseball related things. For me one of my must dos was the Art Institute. I am someone who loves to look at art and could spend all day doing it. Of course my favorite is the older stuff like Picasso, Monet, and Van Gough. When I looked up info on the Museum I found out that one of my other favorites was also the traveling art display, Roy Lichtenstein.I must start out by saying that the line to get into the art museum was pretty long. I think we waited outside for about 30 minutes. The wait was not bad, however it was a hot day in Chicago that day and for many that was uncomfortable, being from Texas we were ok. The wait was definitely worth it. The hours of the museum are 10:30-5 daily and till 8 on Thursday. Admission is $23 for adults and free for children under 14.The outside of the museum is just as exciting to see as the inside. The front entrance has amazing architecture and you are greeted by 2 huge lions. To the right of the entrance is a beautiful courtyard with lots of green ivy and other plants and a water fountain. Once again a beautiful and enjoyable place probably any other day but on this day it was hot and humid under all the trees and plants. To the left was a beautiful garden. Once you are inside you have 3 floors and several rooms to choose from to begin looking at. We went straight to the Lichtenstein exhibit. There were several rooms that connect almost making it like a maze. Art lines both sides of the room and there are even a few displays in the middle. Of course you can purchase a radio that will tell you all about each piece. After about an hour or more we took off for the different sections of the museum. We saw some modern art, Picasso, Monet and my son’s favorite was the pointillism of a Sunday Afternoon. At school he had been learning about pointillism and one of the other classes even did a project of this specific piece. When we walked around the corner of one of the rooms my son’s jaw dropped. He was in such awe and loved the piece. It was a huge canvas that covered the whole wall. My favorite piece was the Picasso "Old Guitarist" I am a huge fan of Picasso and love his art; this one was especially unique to me because of its story. Because Picasso was so poor he often painted over a painting because he could not afford new canvas. In this particular painting you could see the images from a painting that had been painted over. Overall the Art Museum was a great experience. I wish we could have spent more time there. I think we could have easily used 2 days. However with limited time and a 7 year old who could only handle so much we only got to spend about a ½ day there. If you have limited time I would research what the museum has before going and then try to hit your favorites first.
http://www.igougo.com/review-r1400747-A_day_of_Art.html
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