Trip to Art Museum - for Dali

It's been a while since our last trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. We were there for a Cezanne exhibit back in September of last year. Woah! A lot longer than I had expected. I just hope it not going to be as busy.

I keep thinking that we would take the train into the city, but somehow we would always end up driving instead.  If only the train ride was more straight-forward, as in no additional mode of transportation after the train stop.  I'm not so keen on the 14 stops on a bus (30 min ride) after a 45 minute train ride!  So until I figure it all out, we will be in our car for at least 1 hour to the art museum. I used an App to find a decently priced parking spot, so if anything at least we got that going for us.

While waiting in the lobby, I noticed that this lady was wearing her winter coat like a backpack.  I looked it up and here it is online!

So neat! Canadian Goose brand and for $1,500.  OUCH!!  So I guess we are not getting these. But perhaps it's as easy as sewing a few of these attachments and finding the proper "backpack" strap??

Okay, ready for a fun day!  We are meeting some friends here today too:

So, it seems that there is a cat hiding in this photo.  See it yet??!

It's actually just a silhouette of a cat, in between the man and the woman. And the cat's tail is in between the man's legs.  Ha!

Learning as we go along in the museum - this big artwork is called Sky above Clouds, by Georgia O'keeffe:

Also learning that it's her point of view from traveling on the airplane during 1950s to 1970s.  And did you know that O'Keeffe holds the record for the highest price paid for painting by a woman? Her Weed/White Flower No.1 sold for $44.4 million dollars in 2014. Cool!

The kids are taking a little break.  Or perhaps there's just something about sitting by a big window and looking at the train tracks down below:

Graham said this installation was his favorite of the day.  It's called Islands by Izumi Masatoshi.  These rocks were quarried in the Tohoku region, northeast region of the Japan island.  All 3 pieces of weigh about 12,000lbs!

I think the spiral staircase is pretty neat too!

Okay, here's the main reason for visiting the museum today.  It's the museum's Member Only exclusive look at Salvador Dali's collection.  And there are definitely some interesting ones.  I didn't realize there was so much sexual innuendos!  Charlie's like giving me that look, like "Seriously, Mommy??!": 

I guess by looking at the man himself, he does seem like an "interesting" person:

Definitely some interesting artwork:

If we had to choose, the piece below is probably our favorite artwork out of the entire collection today.  It's called The Image Disappears:

When I first saw this image, I actually saw the woman first and had the toughest time seeing the bearded man.  So strange!

Okay, so Dali basically copied another artist's work - Vermeer's Woman in Blue Reading a Letter and mushed it with a Spanish artist's face??!

Well, according to Charlie, Dali has a very "disturbing" collection.  Ha!

Moving on to the Ryan Learning Center before closing time! The boys are sewing with raffia - based on the work of an artist which I unfortunately do not remember:

Cute! Graham's sewing is very geometric - straight lines:

And of course, Charlie's sewing is of a fish!  Curvy lines, nature: 

Both boys are so different from each other!

Alrighty, time to head home.  Boys are hungry and there's actually a Chick-fil-a across the street!  The architecture of the building housing the restaurant chain was very similar to this one.  Definitely the best looking Chick-fil-a building that I've seen:

This sign is too funny!!

At the very bottom of the sign, it says "In any event, please be careful."  Someone has a funny sense of humor around here :-)

We went to get some dessert before heading back to the parking garage.  Graham wanted some macaroons.  And we definitely misread the ordering system because he thought he was getting more than one! Ahhh, the disappointment!

What a fun day in downtown Chicago. I just wish it wasn't so difficult to get to!  And now, there's the 1.5 hour ride home that we have to endure.  Sheesh!!!  I really need to figure out how to ride the train!