Nothing beats spending time at the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago during a cold winter day.. I used to visit on Tuesday late afternoons when admission was free ;-) which I believe has been moved to Thursday evenings. Georges Seurat's "Sunday on La Grande Jatte" is hard to miss at the mezzanine level. Seurat's pointilism style is hard to miss with this one. Reviewing its history, it's amazing this piece has resided at the Art Institute since 1926, courtesy of Helen Bartlett. Right on the other side is another must-see: El Greco's "Assumption of the Virgin", part of a set of canvases that was supposed to adorn the altar of the convent of Santo Domingo in Spain. (The other famous one, The Trinity, is now housed the Prado Museum in Madrid.) The display at the Art Institute has references to the other "missing" canvases; reading those references made me curious about the others. Finally, in 2001, I visited Spain and "hunted" down the other paintings (in the Prado and the remaining ones at the Santo Domingo Church in Toledo.) The Asian collection mostly in the lower level is not to be missed either. The South Asian (Indian) collection is very impressive. (I still have a vivid image of the Hindu god Shiva dancing with 6 arms.) I suggest a series of visits to the Art Institute. It's simply too saturating to see all exhibits in one day. After every visit, I usually wind down at the cafe in the lower level, just to "decompress" before heading out to busy Michican Avenue. Definitely a must-see for every arts connoisseur.

We went with only an hour to explore...but what we got to see was amazing. All of the painings and arts crafts were so cool...they even had a section of ancient Roman, Grecian and Egyptian art. I wish we had more time to spend there to see all the amazing art they had.

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the best Art Musuems I have ever been to. I spent hours there looking at some of the worlds most famous artworks, and some lesser known. The museum is located in a great and safe part of town. Well worth the trip.

It is a beautiful museum which has a wonderful collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artists such as Renoir, Seurat, and Monet. Recent renovations have also added to the modern art section.

The best place in Chicago. You can spends hours, to days here. There are thousands of beautiful pieces to stare at. It its a place I always go, when I make the trip to Chicago.