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From the Curators
Charles Ray’s A copy of ten marble fragments of the Great Eleusinian Relief

Two curators delve into the complex history behind a modern-day sculpture that channels Classical antiquity.

A rectangular quilt composed of various fabrics in dark or muted colors in a 4-by-5 section grid. Each section has a horizontally striped fabric as a background. Overlaid is a thick X shape in solid black, and overlaid on top of that is a square of a different striped fabric. Two stripes of black separate the outside columns from the two inner columns.

Inside the Exhibition
Exuberant Experimentation: Christina Ramberg’s Late Works

Discover how quiltmaking opened up new worlds of creativity for the beloved Chicago artist in the mid-1980s.

Interpreting the Collection
Strategic Reserves of Hope: Peter Blume’s The Rock

In the devastated landscape of Blume’s world, mystery and hope strike a vibrant balance.

A woven textile in shades of brown, blue, and metallic gold. On a mud-brown background are a series of many small gridded square shapes. Each is coppery gold with a halo of blue behind it and many fine blue threads crossing the square laterally, all evenly spaced. Bisecting each square vertically is an unruly tuft of brown fiber.

Inside the Exhibition
The Alchemy of Weaving

Learn how contemporary textile artists from across the globe have advanced the ancient and seemingly magical practice of turning thread into cloth.

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Interpreting the Collection
A Voyage of Seeing: On Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Seascapes

The photographer feels “a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home,” when looking at the sea, a feeling that resonates with others who have crossed their waters.

A blond woman with her back to the viewer stands facing a white wall on which hangs four versions of Picasso's print Still Life with Lunch, one white and dark brown-red, two in the center that are black and white, and on the right that is black, white, gray, and red-brown. The print image consists of a wine bottle, a lamp, a cut ham, a glass, a cut onion, and a knife.

Inside the Exhibition
Made for the Present: The Many Styles of Pablo Picasso

Trace the major artistic approaches and themes Picasso explored at various points across his 70-year career.

A visitor uses the mobile app in the Ando gallery.

The Digital Museum
Hear It Here: The Museum’s Audio Tour Experience

The Art Institute’s podcast-style audio tours on our mobile app offer a sensory universe to explore.

Painting of two boys, one white and one black, standing side by side with neutral expressions against a neural background.

Perspectives
Art as Catalyst: Three Ways to Talk with Children about Race

Images can provide a starting place for introducing young children to concepts of race and difference and affirming their identities.

Photograph of a tabletop upon which rests a small woven artwork in progress made of strips of vibrant cloth. One hand pulls the center strip through threads wound around a cardboard base.

Top 10
Art-Inspired Activities for Spring

Looking for something new to do, see, or make on your next visit? This handy guide has you covered.

A photograph of artist Richard Hunt in his studio in front of his work, large-scale sculptures that twist and turn their way skyward.

Inside the Exhibition
“The Sky Is the Limit”: A Conversation between Richard Hunt and Jordan Carter

The sculptor and curator discuss artistic process, a more than 60-year career, and Hunt’s installation on the Bluhm Family Terrace.

Painting of a crowd of figures carrying candles and wearing white bonnets through which a woman is led on horseback holding a small, bundled child. The woman's dark-blue dress contrasts against a pale-pink sky. The figures stand so closely together that their hats form a sea of white. Many bonnets are illuminated like lanterns.

One Theme, Multiple Voices
First Encounters with Works of Art

Six staff members reflect upon the impact and power of their first impressions of an artwork.

Collection Spotlight
Icebound by John Twachtman

A Black family of four rests together in bed against a seafoam-green wall while reading a newspaper. They are all under seafoam-green and teal blankets except for the baby, who is nestled in a white bassinet adjacent to the mother, whose arm reaches out from behind the paper to tend to the child. Between the mother and father, who are both obscured by the papers, a young boy turns his head to look at the paper his father is reading.

Inside the Exhibition
In the Room with David Goldblatt

One family’s morning in bed offers a window into South African life under apartheid—and a photographer’s efforts to reckon with its legacies.

Photograph of Patrick Thomas, in gray working clothes and a cap, standing among green foliage.

Meet the Staff
Patrick Thomas, Landscaping and Grounds Foreperson

It’s the perfect time to get to know Patrick and his green thumb.

Outside Voices
A Welcome Weight: The Art of James Johnson

“I often think when I finish a piece: if I presented this in front of my grandfathers, what would they think? That is where my heart is.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Beata Beatrix 1864 1870

Perspectives
Elizabeth Siddal in Her Eyes

Elizabeth Siddal is remembered as the face of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, but her own work offers a master class on the craft of feeling.

A man and a woman and three tweens huddle together smiling in front of one of the large bronze lions in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. The lion wears a wreath of evergreen around its neck.

Top 10
Your Winter Essentials

Inspiring performances, festive art making, encounters with artists, and so much more—check out the season’s can’t-miss offerings at a glance.

A sculpture in smooth white marble featuring three nude women standing together, their arms draped around each other.

Inside the Exhibition
From Rough Clay to Polished Marble: A Close Look at Canova’s Process

Follow along, step by step, through the creative and technical stages behind the artist’s finished sculptures.

One Theme, Multiple Voices
Kinds of Blue

Four staff members find compelling and evocative hues in artworks from around the world.

Outside Voices
The Body Knows as Much as the Soul: Kiki Smith on Camille Claudel

Artist Kiki Smith reflects on vulnerability, the anxiety of influence, and the impact of Camille Claudel on contemporary art.

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