Friday, September 26, 2025
Chicago
Second Visit to Chicago to see the Art Institute and Other Interesting Bits and Bobs
Today we were going to make our second trip to Chicago. I was excited because we had not yet been to the Art Institute of Chicago which was Number One on my To-Do List. But once I’d placed myself in Marilou’s hands, I knew that she would have all sightseeing under control. And she switched plans, if necessary, in keeping with the weather forecast. So, it was good to have a really lovely day to get into the city again as ML wanted to show me a few more of sights en route to the museum. She certainly knows the city well.
Having A Quick Breakfast Before Set-Off:
Marilou had a couple of things to do before we left: dogs to walk, dogs to feed, a quick breakfast to arrange for us. She did it all. Meanwhile, I had awoken at 5.00am and had started my packing as I wanted to get it out of the way. It took me an hour and 20 minutes to get it all done and with that, I felt most relieved. I then sat blogging in order to use my time wisely. Then, I showered, dressed and met her in the kitchen for a very quick breakfast of brown toast with peanut butter and honey washed down with decaff coffee. To ensure that we’d not be hungry too soon, she also carried two cans of strawberry smoothie with her so that we could finish it up on the train. She had already booked our tickets—so we were all set to board the train. We thought we’d take an earlier train to leave us more time to explore the city—but, infuriatingly, the train was half an hour delayed! We’d hurried over, walking it out from her home to the train station (a quick 15 minute walk) and boarded the train when it did finally arrive. Yes, we did drink our smoothies en route—so we were quite full by the time we pulled into Union Station in Chicago.
Walk Themed Around Louis Comfort Tiffany:
I realized quite soon that Louis Comfort Tiffany (LCT) was exceedingly active in Chicago at the end of the 1800s when Chicago architects such as Louis Sullivan, Silsbee, Burnham, etc. were having their heyday. This is also the great city of Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW)—so for anyone who is interested in American architecture, this is the city to check out. We’d had a fair share of FLW on Oak Park, Illinois, a couple of days ago. But ML could not resist taking me to The Rookery, a renowned building in downtown Chicago where FLW’s hand is seen in the interior of the lobby. So that’s where we walked to first.
Exploring The Rookery:
The Rookery is on La Salle and Adams (I believe) as Downtown Chicago is designed around a perfect grid. We found the Rookery and entered it to be quite astounded by what we saw. The lobby has a sort of false ceiling created above it in a metal pattern. There is also a metal balcony and highly ornamental railing. There is also a very fancy and quite intricate wrought-iron staircase that leads up to the higher floors. There are actually tours given and a tour guide was waiting to begin one. But, of course, it was not on the cards for us today as we had no time. We took several pictures of a quite interesting interior and left.
The Marquette:
Our next port of call was a building called The Marquette. Yes, it is named after the priest who was also a geographical explorer. It was he who traced the environs in the Midwest and mapped out the area. Marquette University is named after him. At any rate, we were quite taken by the decorative elements even outside the building—bronze sculptures that portray his journeys and the many native American communities he encountered, their reception of him, his impressions of them, etc.
Inside, the lobby of the building is stunning. This is where our exploration of the work of Tiffany began. I always knew he was a Renaissance man who worked in multiple media: stained glass, mosaic, metal, etc. And indeed, his artistry in mosaic is easily evident here. There is an octagonal balcony that runs overhead. The entire front face of the balcony is covered with Tiffany mosaics representing Marquette’s journey. There are emblems of the states through he which he traveled as well as symbols of the tribes he met. But as many of them are done in iridescent mosaic, they gleam in the overhead lights and are really staggering. Of course, we asked if we could climb up to the first floor and the Receptionist very kindly used his lift key pass to enable us climb up. From that vantage point, we got much better pictures and also a chance to look at the decorative elements throughout this space. Indeed, it is something every fan of Tiffany should see.
Exploring the Macy’s Building:
Macy’s has taken over the building that was once the headquarters of Marshall Field, a famous departmental store in Chicago. While the building still remains the same, ML told me that it no longer has the grandeur and style once associated with the former store. Still, once we made our way to the main lobby, I was shocked after I looked up at the dome. It was a massive stained glass affair that had Tiffany’s name all over it. It bore a close resemblance to the stained glass dome in the Parisian department store called Galleries Lafayette which I think is always worth going inside to see. At any rate, we took pictures and moved on.
Exploring the Chicago Cultural Center:
Much more work by Tiffany is evident is the current Chicago Cultural Center (which, in a former life, used to be the Chicago Public Library). Like all public buildings of its vintage, it was lavishly decorated within, by none other that Tiffany. In fact, in this space, you see the multiplicity of talents of which he could boast—as a stained glass artist, as a mosaicist, as a design of ceiling chandeliers and wall sconces, etc. There are actually two domes in this building—one on the second floor and one on the third. For lack of time, we chose to see the better one, which is on the third floor. It is a massive stained glass dome (similar to the one in the Macy’s Building), but the viewing area is simply crowded with his mosaics, in floral and geometric patterns and with lettering as well. The lights he also designed, hanging from the ceiling, illuminate the space with a very soft glow, which is echoed by the mosaics that reflect this light, are gorgeous. It is almost magical. There is a whole stairwell that is covered in these decorative mosaics and they almost feel like a church. It is quite amazing!
! Getting to the Art Institute:
finally, after making so many detours, to see all these fascinating sights in the city for which you really need a City Insider to lead you, we arrived at the Art Institute of Chicago, passing by, once again, Anish Kapoor’s Bean, of which I can never tire. Yes, I took a few more pictures of this very funky sculpture and managed to get quite a big chunk of the Chicago skyline reflected in it. Then, we walked on, crossed the street and arrived at the Art Institute.
I was given a free pass on the strength of my Met ID card (entry, otherwise, costs $32) and ML had her sister Claudette’s membership card with her—that enabled her to get in for free and also take me into the special Gustav Caillebotte exhibition that is currently on. We also picked up a Museum Plan that gave us a list of 12 highlights that can be seen in one hour and armed with those aids, we thought we’d begin in the Café by ordering some lunch.
Lunch at the Café of the Art Institute:
So the Art Institute Café is in a really beautiful setting. It is located outside the main building, in a sort of small courtyard that overlooks a beautiful fountain that plays continuously and is filled with sculptural figures. We ordered inside and were told to take our seats on the patio. Luckily, we found a table bordering the fountain that was also in the shade—as it was a nice day but the sun was really strong.
I order a Broccoli Salad with dried cherries, pecans and a tangy dressing and Marilou ordered a very fancy Grilled Sandwich with fresh figs, arugula and gruyere cheese. We decided to share them both and they were really delicious. Meanwhile, we chatted non-stop and charted out our route.
Exploring the Special Gustav Cailbotte Exhibition:
After about an hour during which time we gave our feet a chance to rest, we thought we’d begin our visit with a look at the special Gustav Caillebotte exhibition subtitled, ‘Painting His World’.
As its name suggests, it takes us into the intimate world of the artist and here’s what I learned about him: Caillebotte came from a very wealthy French family. He was born in the mid- 19th century. He had dabbled in other professions but soon found that he could afford to follow his passions and turned to Painting, He joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he learned the rudiments of painting. He soon got to know contemporary artists with whom he began to hang out—these were the Impressionists. He became fascinated by their work and began to follow their trends in his own work. In the meanwhile, he was also a generous patron of their work and bought a lot of their canvasses to help them survive—so many of them, eg. Van Gogh, could barely make a living.
Caillebotte painted people from his own life: his father, mother, brothers, uncle, family friends, etc. He was also one of the first people to take on what were, at that time, considered expensive, new hobbies and interests: swimming, angling and boating on the Seine. His interest in these sports led him to paint many scenes of skiffs (boats), rowers, anglers, people swimming in the river, etc. Furthermore, he loved the scenes around him of his own beloved city and he painted them quite frequently too. Many of these paintings are monumental and capture an era with a close sense of realism. He has people leaning over bridges looking at railway trains below, or people walking under umbrellas on rainy days. I found myself clicking a lot of pictures as I really did want to take home with me the vast variety of works that he created. There was a small section of nudes but nothing really special. He never married but had a long-term companion called Charlotte Berthiers—he painted her in various poses as she was clearly his Muse. It is good that Caillebotte was such a prolific painter because he died very young—at the age of 45—but he lives on in the great body of work that he has left behind. Furthermore, the great collection of Impressionist paintings he amassed, were bequeathed to the French State and formed the basis of what became the Musee d’Orsay. Both ML and I enjoyed the exhibition very much and were glad we did it at our leisure and while we still had time and energy.
Exploring the Highlights of the Museum:
We had about an hour and half at our disposal and decided that it was time for us to search out some of the highlights of the museum. Accordingly, we used the map (floor plan) and started off in the American section. We saw:
1. a bunch of paintings by Georgia O’Keefe including Cow Skull with White Rose
2. American Gothic (Grant Wood)
3. Nighthawks (Edward Hopper
4. Girl Reading (Mary Cassat)
5. Child Bathing (Mary Cassat)
6. Several works by Paul Gaugin
7. Gaugin’s Portrait of a Woman seated in front of a painting by Cezanne
8. View of Montepellier (Cezanne)
9. A Bowl of Apples (Cezanne)
10. Paintings by Pisarro including A Woman Collecting Grass
11. Waterlilies (Monet)
12. The Artist’s Bedroom in Arles (Van Gogh
13. Self Portrait (Van Gogh
14. A Sunday on the Grand Jatte (Seurat). This is a very popular painting and many people were posing in front of it.
15. Poppy Field (Monet)
16. Sea Scape (Monet)
17. Lady at the Piano (Renoir)
18. Two Sisters (Renoir)
19. Woman Reading (Manet)
20. Train Entering Gare St. Lazare (Monet)
21. On the Banks of the Seine, Bennecourt (Monet)
And finally, I suppose we kept the best for last: we saw the famous Favrille Window by Tiffany, created and known as the Hartwell Memorial Window. It seems like the twin of the famous Autumn Landscape Window in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York because it is very similar in design and style except that this window has cool colors (blues, greens, purples) as opposed to the warm colors (browns, reds, yellows, oranges) of the Met one. This towering window was transferred from the church to this spot, a monumental task, and it is indeed quite staggering no matter from what angle you look at it. We certainly ended our museum visit on a high note (no pun intended) and, unintentionally, we ended our exploration of Tiffany’s work with another wonderous work by the Master.
Making Our Way Back Home:
It was time to make our way back home. We were both exhausted and had run out of steam, but I managed to poke my head into the gift shop to find a most enticing array of productions. However, I had no intentions of buying anything and very shortly, we left. As we crossed the street, we passed the spot where the Historic Route 66 Began and so we took a picture beneath it.
We walked quickly to the Union Station and found a train that would take us back. About 45 minutes later, we were at the station, Sharon came in her car to pick us up and after a very short rest, she took me to the stores (Michael) to pick up a few more items. Then, we drove back to ML’s place where, she, bless her heart, had been hard at work getting dinner ready for us. By the time we reached her home, the table was laid and she had all her dishes ready.
Last Supper at ML’s:
And so, after fixing ourselves really refreshing G&Ts, filled with muddled herbs, lemon and cucumber, and snacking on cheddar cheese with cherries and nuts, we sat down to eat: ML had made a salad with raw zucchini ribbons with a lime and mint dressing, a mixed chopped salad and her homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese and baked in a tomato-mushroom sauce that was extremely tasty.
For dessert, I offered to treat them all to Frozen Custard for which Wisconsin is famous. Sharon and I went out to pick it up and had brought them home. ML had strawberry, Sharon had Pumpkin Spice and I had a sundae: Chocolate Ice-cream with Salted Caramel Sauce and Pecans to top it. What a wonderful meal we had and what a fabulous day it had turned out to be.
But all good things must come to an end and so I said my goodbyes to Sharon who had been so kind to me in taking me all over in her car to do my shopping. I adjourned into my room to take stock of the things I would need to do before my departure for New York tomorrow morning.
VUntil tomorrow, see 'ya...
