The Art Institute of Chicago has been a cultural hub of Chicago’s cultural prowess since it found its permanent home on Michigan Avenue and Adams Street in 1893 and well before. The museum features art from almost every country across its galleries spanning the modern Americas, Edo Japan and Medieval Europe. These wings house some of the most rebound works from Claude Monet’s “Gare Saint-Lazare,” Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” and who can forget the ever-iconic “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat. Whether you’re here as an art connoisseur, a tourist with a city pass or because Ferris Bueller told you to, The Art Institute of Chicago truly has something for everyone.
Photo Gallery:
The Art Institute of Chicago. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The outdoor gardens cast a spider shadow near high noon. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Each side of the museum is flanked by gardens and walkways. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A sculpture of a solitary woman in the gardens of the museum. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
An unmarked fountain in the museum gardens. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A geometric sculpture stands out in the museum gardens. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Sunlight falls into the museum. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The Woman's Board Grand Staircase. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The Buddha, Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907), circa 725 to 750. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Shukongojin, the thunderbolt deity, battles evil and ignorance with wisdom and locks. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A Waka Onna (Young Woman) Noh mask. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A 16th-century Asakurajô (Old Man Asakura) Noh mask. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The Art Institute of Chicago also houses an exhibit of miniature rooms depicting scenes throughout the centuries that have been brought in by various collectors. Here is a modern French home circa 1930s to 1950s. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A miniature of an early 20th-century California room. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A miniature of a 19th-century French room. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
One of Auguste Rodin's smaller sculptures features a common motif seen throughout his work. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Auguste Rodin's depiction of Adam. His right index points at the earth to reveal his fall from Eden. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The first room in the Impressionist gallery of the museum. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Claude Monet's series of haystacks through the seasons. Monet experimented with time's influence on the identity and character of spaces and objects. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Paul Cézanne's "The Basket of Apples," captured at an angle I hope he would approve of. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Georgia O'Keeffe's "Sky Above Clouds IV" shines high over visitors to the museum's modern art wing. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The old Chicago Stock Exchange room. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
A rainbow canopy glitters down onto museum-goers as they exit the grounds. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
