A Little Culture

This last week was an extraordinarily busy one. It was filled with busy days, new friends, and new things. One of which was the Grant girls' first visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. Yes, this was my first visit as well! We met as a slightly larger homeschool group, and went down on the train and jumped on a bus to the Art Institute. The first half of our time there was spent on a docent-led tour (I highly recommend this!), and the last part of the time there we broke off into a couple groups and explored on our own.

Belle & Moo enjoyed spending time with Lily and Grace on the train ride into the city.

Belle and Jonathan always have a nice time chatting and laughing together.

Moo and Diana on the bus to the A.I.--so cute. :)




Belle was really touched by this bronze sculpture which is meant to signify the end of Native American culture after the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
Aptly titled "The End of the Trail" by James Earle Fraser, both rider and stallion not only appear to be at the end of the trail...but also at the end of their lives. Belle stood and considered this sculpture for quite some time.


The girls loved this sculpture. It is called "The Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii", and it stood out to my girls among all of the other marble sculptures in the museum.

Don't look too close--this one is a little risque for our friend Pablo Picasso. I still wanted to grab a picture...the size of the work, and the fame of the artist...well, I couldn't resist.

Vincent van Gogh's "Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle" really got the kids engaged in figuring out what was happening in the painting.

We are bigtime Georgia O'Keeffe fans, so this was exciting to be this close to a work we had only seen as a thumbnail in art books!

My girls thought this sculpture was a bit goofy. I did too. No, I did NOT let on to our docent.

Excellent--another O'Keeffe!

Our docent, Monica, was explaining this gloppy looking vase. I'll just give you the title:
"Airborne Snotty Vase: Influenza, 2001" by Marcel Wanders.
After this and a view of "The Portrait of Dorian Gray", Moo asked the question, "Why does some art have to be so unpleasant, Mama?" Good question.

This was our only group shot. We took this picture mid-day, and then went to the outskirts of Millennium Park to eat a picnic lunch, see the bean, and return to the museum to get a little more time viewing the collections. The place is HUGE! I don't know how anyone could see the whole place in just a day....let alone while with a group that included elementary and middle school aged children! We will return soon. I was really moved by the experience of being in the presence of so many works of such famous artists.