Trip to art institute (Sept 4)

I can't believe I'm 2 months behind with my postings.  Yikes!  Well, first off - I haven't been feeling 100%.  I was in Charlie's classroom last Monday for a Halloween party and must have caught some sort of bug from there.  Hopefully it's not Covid!  But lots of sneezing mostly and a runny nose. Charlie has a slight cough and he is sounding nasally as well. Tis' the season, I suppose!

So this trip to the Art Institute of Chicago was something I had wanted to plan quite a while ago especially after seeing an advertisement in a magazine for the Cezanne exhibit.  I only know of the artist because of an art project in the boys' school back in California.  I had helped out with several art projects and one of them was one that involved drawing/painting Cezanne's apples.  And here it is, the exhibit in Chicago!

We decided to take the train into downtown instead of driving.  It will be my first time on the train here, along with the boys as well.  At this point, Bobby had already been on the train for quite a bit as this is now his regular commute to work:

There's an upper-deck as well and as per usual, the boys are up to no good up there... although trying to look very innocent:

We did convince them to just join us at the main floor:

Everyone is pretending to be interested in reading, as I had asked the boys to bring a book each.  Ha ha!

Almost an hour later, we make it to the main train terminal downtown.  We were suppose to walk those few blocks from the train station but it was drizzling. And of course, the boys had no interest in walking, even after a yummy breakfast at the only restaurant that was open at the station:

Biggest pot of flowers I have ever seen!!!

The entry into the Cezanne exhibit is timed.  Made it!

But sheesh, the exhibit area is so busy with so many people!  We aren't hanging around for too long, just taking a few photos here and there and moving along.  Here's Cezanne:

Yup, him and his apples:

You can still see his pencil marks in some of his paintings:

Here are his paint palettes.  So cool! Especially knowing that he was born in 1839 and died in 1906.  Those are some really old items:

This is the painting that looked familiar to me:

He obviously didn't just draw apples/fruits, although he sure had some other interesting paintings:

Okay, trying to figure out where else to go - but these maps on the pamphlet are horrendous!!!

We find some other art - these exhibit are part of Hockney's digital display.  Almost feels like anyone can do paintings on computers these days.  I'm not too familiar with what other types of art he has but personally not too impressed with these:

There's so much in this museum and a lot of them are really old.  It's amazing how people back in the day created symmetry with such precision:

Obviously, this modern day one is more abstract.  What a contrast!

Beautiful stained glass:

Here's the floor/room of the Chicago Stock Exchange that was placed in this part of the museum.  The ceiling is so cool!

Bob is comparing his Roman nose to this statue's.  Ha ha!

Some of these statues are so intricate.  Amazing!

Here are some interesting drinking vessels.  The one that's shaped like a horse's head (top left) is too cute:

There was a piano just like this one at the Getty Museum in CA, except this one here is open.  It looks so amazing!!

Here's a SUPER large art piece by a famous artist - Georges Seurat:

As you can see, it's super busy at this particular spot!!

The artist uses a technique called Pointillism. Talk about WOW!!:

I think it's even more impressive because it's such a massive piece:

Here's the name of the art piece:

Charlie liked this one.  The colors are so realistic and pretty:

This one is by Renoir - another famous artist!

In another section of the museum is a Tiffany window.  Impressive!!

Who knew there were so many different types of glass:

We-fie!  I'm not sure what happened to Daddy.  Too bad, so sad! :-p

This museum is massive:

This painting is probably one of my favorites - "Paris street, Rainy day" by Gustave Caillebotte:

Here's Van Gogh's portrait:  

Hmmm, looks like I missed taking photos of his paintings.  I'm guessing probably because there were too many people by them!

Lots of Egyptian artifacts:

Amazing textile:

A lookout area, just above the train tracks:

OMG, check out these massive earrings next to Charlie's head!

We didn't get the jigsaw puzzle but I did get a handbag with this art piece printed on it :-D

Hey, it's the beginning of Route 66 just outside of the museum.  Who knew!

It's foggy up there today:

Some amazing art deco buildings along the way back to the train station:

I told the boys there are safe deposit vaults in there:

Ha ha ha!!

Pretty cool with the river running through the city.  It does make this city feel pretty special:

We made it back onto the train just in time! It's quite tedious sometimes making sure we have the correct timetable and there's no dilly-dallying when it comes to catching the train!

The boys are up to no good again on the upper-deck while Daddy takes a nap:

Most of the restaurants were unfortunately closed in downtown - or at least the ones near the train station.  I find that so weird because it's a Sunday and you'd think restaurants would be open, especially for tourists.  And at this point, we are definitely still tourist when it comes to downtown Chicago!

Well, thankfully there were options to stop along the train route to get some dinner. And of course, dessert too.  Now it's just trying to figure out where to stand to catch our next train home.  For some reason, we couldn't figure out which direction the train was going to come from:

Well, thankfully we did end up on the correct side. It's definitely still going to take some time to get used to taking the train into the city. We're hoping to get back to the Art Institute a few more times.  Hopefully Charlie especially won't keep asking if it's time to go home yet.  Ha!  This kid, I tell you!  And I thought, he was the one that wanted to be an artist when he grows up.  I mean, this came home not too long after he started school.  I'm pretty sure he is the one that picked "Future Artist" to be printed on it!

Charlie has created some pretty cool art pieces lately and he was selected to be in this program called Artsonia where his art is displayed online. Pretty cool!  And of course, I found it funny because part of this program also allows parents or anyone that has a link to his artwork, to order items with his artwork printed on it - be it bracelets, mugs, t-shirts, you name it!  Very clever indeed because I mean, we of course want his artwork printed on something!

Well, that's it for now.  Lots more family adventures to post again very soon!