French Style is about bringing everyday France into your everyday life, and I can’t think of a more authentic way to do so than visiting museums. In Chicago, we are fortunate to have some of the world’s greatest cultural institutions – notably, the Art Institute of Chicago.
Now through June 14, the Art Institute’s special exhibition, Monet and Chicago, is open to public. Here are my top five reasons to go.
Immerse yourself in Monet │ The Art Institute has long been home to the largest collection of works by Claude Monet outside of Paris. For Monet and Chicago, the museum’s 33 paintings and 13 drawings are augmented with works loaned from esteemed private collections across the city. Together, they comprise 70 works that span Monet’s long career from early caricatures made at Le Havre to the last splendid canvases inspired by his garden and waterlily pond at Giverny.
Immerse yourself in Chicago history │ During Monet’s lifetime, Chicago civic leaders aggressively acquired his work. Palmer and Bertha Honoré Palmer, Martin and Carrie Ryerson, and Annie Swan Coburn purchased works by Monet amidst wider efforts to bolster the city’s global cultural standing. Their gifts and bequests to the Art Institute in the 1920s and 1930s, together with important donations from other patrons, laid the foundation for Chicago’s world-renowned collection of Impressionist art. In 1893, Monet was presented at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1895, the Art Institute hosted Monet’s first solo museum show in the United States. In 1903, the Art Institute became the first American museum to purchase one of Monet’s paintings.
Immerse yourself in Impressionism │Aside from Monet, the Art Institute’s holdings of late 19th-century French art are among the largest and finest in the world and feature some of the most well-known and well-loved works in the museum. The Art Institute’s Impressionist galleries include monumental works by artists such as, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, George Saurat, and Vincent van Gogh to name a few.
Immerse yourself in Toulouse-Lautrec │The Art Institute is hosting a small, but formidable exhibition of works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which is open through June 6. Printmaker Toulouse-Lautrec made a career depicting the most colorful bohemian personalities of the Montmarte quartier of Paris using the relatively new advertising medium of large-scale posters. The installation focuses on his works comprising posters, paintings, and painted objects featuring well-known actors, writers, and cabaret owners, such as Jane Avril, Aristide Bruant, and May Milton.
Immerse yourself in the City of Chicago │May and June are great months to visit Chicago. The weather is reliably good and restrictions on bars, restaurants, and hotels have been lifted significantly. To maximize your immersion in French Style stay at the luxurious, French contemporary hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria. Shop along the Magnificent Mile and Oak Street, where you’ll find leading French brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior and Christofle. Dine at Chicago’s finest French bistros and restaurants including Bistronomic, Le Colonial, and Les Nomades. Take a boat ride down Chicago’s version of the Seine with the Chicago Architectural Foundation tour.
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