Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Insider Tips for Touring the Art Institute
If you want to enjoy your favorite masterpieces in something
resembling peace and quiet, put some thought into the tim-
ing of your visit to the Art Institute, a museum so popular
that it draws as much traffic as our jammed expressways.
Some tips for avoiding the rush hour: Many people don't
realize the museum is open on Monday; keep this secret to
yourself, and visit when the galleries are relatively subdued.
Also, many visitors aren't aware that the museum stays open
late on Thursdays, so consider stopping by after an early din-
ner (another bonus: free admission).
Tips
sculpture, and modern American textiles are just some of the works
on display, but for a general overview of the museum's collection,
take the free “Highlights of the Art Institute” tour, offered at 2pm
on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday.
If time is limited, head straight to the museum's renowned anthol-
ogy of
Impressionist art
, which includes one of the world's
largest collections of Monet paintings; this is one of the most popu-
lar areas of the museum, so arriving early pays off. Among the treas-
ures, you'll find Seurat's pointillist masterpiece
Sunday Afternoon on
the Island of La Grande Jatte.
The galleries of
European and Ameri-
can contemporary art
include paintings, sculptures, and
mixed-media works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí,
Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol. Visitors are
sometimes surprised when they discover many of the icons that hang
here. (Grant Wood's
American Gothic
and Edward Hopper's
Nighthawks
are two that often get double takes.)
Other recommended exhibits are the collection of delicate
mid-19th-century
glass paperweights
in the famous Arthur Rubloff
collection, and the great hall of
European arms and armor
dating
from the 15th to 19th centuries. Composed of more than 1,500
objects, including armor, horse equipment, swords and daggers,
polearms, and maces, the collection is one of the most important
assemblages of its kind in the country. (If you do head down here,
don't miss Marc Chagall's stunning stained-glass windows at the end
of the gallery.)
