Day 293, 23 April 2013, Chicago, Illinois. Art Institute of Chicago - Monet - Picasso and Paperweights. Artists we like which are new to us? Georgia O'Keefe and Ivan Allbright (particularly his Picture of Dorian Gray - check out the album foe today). Chicago showed us her cold shoulder today and rained and rained (and rained). But that was OK - today was set aside for indoor pursuits, namely checking out one of the largest collections of French impressionists and post-impressionists in the world (beaucoup Monets!). And it really was. We even saw a version of Van Gogh's bedroom. Proving that even great artists sometimes have another go, we realised it looked familiar because Version 1 was in the National Gallery in London. The one here in Chicago is Version 2 - done after Van Gogh checked in to the asylum. By the by - the Picasso exhibit was interesting, not least because they featured the history behind the monumental Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza. One of Chicago's favourite pieces of modern art it is even more amazing that it was commissioned and placed so prominently since it was the sixties and Picasso was a member of the Communist Party. The paperweight exhibit (over 800!) was probably only of interest to us since our visit to Murano/Venice - but still, beautiful to behold. The rain had really set in by the time we walked home - which meant we really got to enjoy another of Chicago's pieces of public art - "The Bean" - more officially known as Cloudgate by Anish Kapoor and sitting in Millennium Park. We finished the afternoon off with a jacuzzi in the clouds - due to the weather the rest of Chicago was hidden and we floated happily for half an hour or so before getting ready for the evening .... another story - another photo - The Book of Mormon!
(PS - pictured is Grant Wood's "American Gothic" - Incredibly famous. Absolutely Iconic. And there, I thought it was something from the Rocky Horror Picture Show!)