Chicago Institute Of Art Museum

Stacks Of Wheat By Claude Monet

Stacks of Wheat by Claude Monet is part of a series of piles of harvested wheat.

The series consists of twenty-five canvas, which Monet began near the end of the summer of 1890, and though Monet also produced earlier paintings using this same stack subject.

The impressionist series is famous for how Monet repeated the same theme to show the different light and atmosphere at different times of day, across the seasons, and in many types of weather.

Monets Haystacks series is one of his earliest to rely on repetition of a subject to illustrate a subtle difference in color perception across variations of times of day, seasons, and weather.

Monet settled in Giverny in 1883, and most of his paintings from then until his death 40 years later were of scenes within 3 kilometers of his home.

Monet was intensely aware of and fascinated by the visual nuances of the regions landscape and by the endless variations in the days and the seasons.

Monets painted various subjects in series under different lights and seasons focused on depictions of atmospheric influences.

History Of The Art Institute Of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago was initially founded as the Chicago Academy of Design by a group of artists, mostly featuring plaster casts. After facing financial difficulties, it was then reinstated under its current name jointly as a museum and academy of the artists in the late 19th century. Its collections eventually expanded into art masterpieces from around the world, spanning from ancient bronzes to post-modernist contemporary pieces. Today, it holds hundreds of thousands of famous artifacts, and both the academy and the museum are recognized as leading international institutions. To find out more or plan your next visit, .

About The Art Institute Of Chicago

Founded in 1879, the Art Institute houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art on the planet outside the Louvre. Its also home to more than 300,000 pieces of art, including some of the worlds most revered masterpieces. The museum offers a full schedule of special exhibits and public events.

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The Museum Fired All Its Volunteer Greeters And Guides Because Most Were White Women With Above Average Means

The Art Institute of Chicago, April 1, 2020.

The Art Institute of Chicago crouches on Michigan Avenue, defending the surrounding Grant Park from the citys skyscrapers crowding in. Spreading over more than a million square feet, the museum has almost 300,000 works of art. And zero docents.

In museum-speak, a docent is a trained volunteer who greets visitors and guides them through the collection, filling in details of the artists lives, speaking to the visual elements of the work on display and adding art-history context. The Art Institute used to have more than 100 docents, 82 of them active, until Veronica Stein, an executive director of learning and engagement, sent a Sept. 3 email canning all of them. In gratitude for their long, unpaid serviceaveraging 15 years eachthe Art Institute offered the involuntarily retired guides a two-year free pass to the museum.

European Painting And Sculpture Collection

The museums collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist paintings include works from Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh.

The collection also has the Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor Holdings and three centuries of Old Masters works.

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Art Institute Of Chicago Entrances

Art Institute of Chicago is made up of two buildings the Michigan Avenue Building and the Modern Wing, and a bridge connects both.

Michigan Avenue Building was built in 1893, while the Modern Wing got added in 2009.

You can choose to enter the Museum from either of the entrances.

Here is a layout that explains these two buildings and what to expect in each.

What To See In One Hour

If you are in a hurry, it is possible to explore the Museums masterpieces in only one hour.

Here are the exhibits you can see within 60 minutes.

If you get in through the Michigan Avenue entrance, start at the top and finish at the bottom.

And if you get in through the Modern Wing entrance, you must start at the bottom and work backward.

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At The Moulin Rouge By Henri De Toulouse

At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is one of several works by Toulouse-Lautrec depicting the Moulin Rouge cabaret built in Paris in 1889.

This painting portrays a group of three men and two women sitting around a table situated on the floor of the nightclub.

In the background of this group is a self-portrait of Toulouse-Lautrec himself, who can be identified as the shorter stunted figure next to his taller companion.

In the right foreground, sitting at a different table is the profile of a dancer, with her face lit in a distinctive light. In the background on the right are a Moulin Rouge dancer and another woman.

All the people whose faces are visible have been identified as regular patrons of the Moulin Rouge and acquaintances of the Toulouse-Lautrec.

Paris Street Rainy Day By Gustave Caillebotte

Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte is his best-known work and depicts Parisians walking in the rain through the Place de Dublin in 1877 Paris.

Caillebotte was a friend of many of the impressionist painters, and this painting is part of that tradition. However, it differs in its realism and reliance on line rather than broad brush strokes.

It also reflects Caillebottes interest in photography.

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The Late 1990s And Beyond

American museums welcomed 225 million visitors in 1997. This figure seemed to contradict the idea that Americans had become a stay-at-home culture in which television and the Internet represented the sole forms of entertainment. Nevertheless, the museum did face the challenge of staying relevant at the turn of the century, balancing its obligation to enlighten the public with concessions to its short attention spans and diminished cultural literacy. The Art Institute took a leadership role in determining this new course, maintaining a sense of its own legacy as it did. The historian Neil Harris wrote, The Art Institutes deep identification with the life of Chicago and the Midwest, the fierce pride it has elicited from donors and supporters, its characteristic self-promotion, and its efforts, more than once in every generation, to reinvent its mission and methods, are among the ingredients that have supplied its special character.

Art Institute Of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago‘s Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatorial departments, is encyclopedic, and includes iconic works such as Georges Seurat‘s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Pablo Picasso‘s The Old Guitarist, Edward Hopper‘s Nighthawks, and Grant Wood‘s American Gothic. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.

As a research institution, the Art Institute also has a conservation and conservation science department, five conservation laboratories, and one of the largest art history and architecture libraries in the countrythe Ryerson and Burnham Libraries.

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Art Institute Of Chicago Map

At the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibits are spread over a total floor space of one million square feet.

For a first-time visitor, its sheer size can be overwhelming.

Thats why we recommend carrying a museum map with you while you roam around.

Besides helping you find the masterpieces, this map can also help you find visitor services such as restrooms, cafes, escalators, Museum shops, ramps, etc.

Bookmark this page to get back later from your mobile, or .

Art Institute History And Background Information

The Art Institute of Chicago was founded in 1879, and moved into its current prominent location on Michigan Avenue in 1893. This iconic building was designed by the Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge firm based in Boston, and done in the classical Beaux-Arts style. To this day it remains the museums primary entrance, its grand steps flanked by the legendary lion sculptures that have welcomed visitors to the Art Institute for over 125 years now.

As its collection has grown and evolved over the years, the Art Institute of Chicago has expanded and renovated many times. Today it encompasses multiple buildings, including the Art Institutes newest structure, the Modern Wing. Designed by the esteemed architect Renzo Piano, the Modern Wing was the biggest expansion in the history of the museum. Completed in 2009, this lovely new addition to the Art Institute added a whopping 264,000 square feet of space to the facility. Facing north toward Millennium Park, it provides the venerable institution with a second entranceand a gleaming, contemporary one at that.

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Prints And Drawings Collection

The print and drawings collection has grown to 11,500 drawings and 60,000 prints, ranging from 15th-century works to contemporary.

The collection has works of Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco Goya, and James McNeill Whistler. Because works on paper are sensitive to light, the works are not on permanent display to preserve the work.

American Gothic By Grant Wood

American Gothic by Grant Wood depicts a farmer standing beside a woman. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking traditional Americana, and the man is holding a pitchfork.

The inspiration came to Wood in his decision to paint what is known as the American Gothic House, along with: the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.

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The Aztec Stone Of The Five Suns

This stone was carved to commemorate the reign of Emperor Motecuhzoma II. The hieroglyphic signs on the stone represent the five cosmic era, or suns, which legitimize the emperors rule. This piece is an amazing relic from the center of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs expansive empire, whose ruins now lie underneath downtown Mexico City.

Nocturne: Blue And Gold Southampton Water By James Abbott Mcneill Whistler

Nocturne: Blue and Gold Southampton Water by James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an early 1870s step for the artist toward abstraction with his Nocturnes series.

Whistler captures the stillness of evening while evoking the artistry of music in the tonal harmonies of twilight.

Whistler has depicted an inlet along the English Channel near Southampton obscured by the approaching night. Vessels appear as ghostly shapes and shadowy forms by the twilight as the fragmented moon is seen on the horizon.

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Art Institute Of Chicago Ends A Docent Program And Sets Off A Backlash

The museums decision to replace its program for volunteer educators with one that responds to issues of class and income equity has drawn criticism.

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By Robin Pogrebin

Like many museums around the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has been trying to forge closer ties with the racially and economically diverse city it serves. Museum officials decided that one area in need of an overhaul was its 60-year-old program of volunteer educators, known as docents, who greet school groups and lead tours.

So last month the board overseeing the program sent a letter to the museums 82 active docents most of whom were white older women informing the volunteers that their program was being ended. The letter said that the museum would phase in a new model relying on paid educators and volunteers in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.

The move has erupted into the latest cultural flash point as museums around the country wrestle with making their staffs, boards and programming more diverse.

Clearly we were not prepared for this to become a discussion of identity politics, he said. We are only focused on our mission.

Two Sisters Or On The Terrace By Pierre

Two Sisters or On the Terrace by Pierre-Auguste Renoir depicts the upper terrace of the Maison Fournaise, a family restaurant located on an island in the Seine in Chatou, the western suburb of Paris.

The painting shows a young woman and her younger girl seated outdoors with a small basket containing balls of wool. In the background over the railings of the terrace, are flowering plants and vines.

Further in the background is the River Seine with boats and some buildings in the top left on the other side of the river.

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Saint Catherine Of Alexandria: Using Lighting To Show Art As Originally Intended

A unique demonstration for what color tunable lights can do is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a wood polychromy sculpture from the early 16th century.

Museum conservators had always noticed that standard gallery lighting left Saint Catherines complexion chalky. Ketras lighting system offered a controllable medium for Kerri Callahan to tweak color temperature, vibrancy and optics to create the right effect. After experimenting, Kerri was able to achieve the desired effect by tuning one lamp at the sculptures body and another at its face. A more balanced Saint Catherine of Alexandria came to life. One lamp at 2,850 Kelvin pointed towards Saint Catherines dress, rendered it gold and glistening. Another lamp at 2,700K pointed towards Saint Catherines face, brought out warm tones in her face like never before. Both lamps were left at 0% vibrancy to ensure true color rendition on the object.

After optimizing the light for Saint Catherine, examining the full effect in situ was the next step to balancing the gallerys lighting. The sculptures displayed next to Saint Catherine are made of wood as well, but have less of their original polychromy. Balancing the light on neighboring objects ensured that the collection was properly and holistically illuminated.

A Tour Of The Waterfalls Of The Provinces By Katsushika Hokusai

A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces by Katsushika Hokusai is a series of landscape woodblock prints by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.

Completed between 183334 and containing eight prints, it was the first ukiyo-e series to approach the theme of falling water.

The waterfalls take up most of each print, dwarfing the scenes human inhabitants, which are rendered by Hokusai with a powerful sense of life, reflecting his animistic beliefs.

• Horse-Wax Waterfall
• Roben Waterfall at Mount Oyama in Sagami Province
• Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in Shimotsuke
• Waterfall at Aoi Hill
• Yr Waterfall in Mino Province
• Travelers climbing a steep hill to reach the Kannon sanctuary
• Ono Waterfall on the Kisokaid
• Amida Falls in the Far Reaches of the Kisokaido

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Admission Prices & Discounts For Tickets To The Art Institute Of Chicago In Chicago

The following overview lists the admission prices and various discounts and discount codes for a visit to The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago. All prices are displayed per age group or reduced rate group. You can also directly book your discounted online ticket for the The Art Institute of Chicago here, if available.

Wondering what a ticket to The Art Institute of Chicago costs? These are the prices:

Buying Tickets Online Is Better

When you visit the art museum, you must stand in two lines at the ticket counter to purchase your tickets and the security check.

If you buy Art Institute of Chicago tickets, much in advance, you can skip the long lines at the ticket counter and quickly go through the security.

Depending on the day and season, this saves you 15 to 45 minutes of waiting time.

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List Of Chicago Transit Authority Bus Routes

This is a list of bus routes operated by the .

Routes running 24/7 are:

• N9 ” rel=”nofollow”> Red) and North/Clark only),
• N20 ,
• N22 ,
• N34 ” rel=”nofollow”> Red) and 131st/Ellis only),
• N49 ,
• N53 ,
• N55 ” rel=”nofollow”> Museum of Science and Industry and 55th/St. Louis only),
• N60 ” rel=”nofollow”> Pink) only),
• N62 ,
• ” rel=”nofollow”> Orange) and 63rd/Stony Island only),
• N66 ,
• N77 ,
• N79 ,
• N81 ” rel=”nofollow”> Blue) and Wilson/Marine Drive only),
• N87 ” rel=”nofollow”> Red) only).

Expanding The Institutes Reach: 1970s

In the 1970s, the Art Institute undertook construction of a large addition, extending the building eastward to Columbus Avenue. This addition was completed in 1977 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the citys most famous architectural firm. Expansion of another kind continued as James N. Wood became director of the Art Institute in 1980 and made it his mission to broaden the historical scope of the Art Institutes exhibition program, moving beyond the now-familiar strengths of the European painting collection. Departments of photography and architecture were also formed during his tenure. In an afterword to the catalogue of an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the museums relocation to the Michigan Avenue address, Wood gave an eloquent summary of his vision as director: I am convinced that a democratic society will and must always demand equal access to the experience of original works of art.

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