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Perspectives
Dancing with Cecilia Beaux

Looking deeper into a painting can reveal more mysteries than it solves.

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 skyscraper with a prominent, illuminated Rose Window and golden roof at center is otherwise dark against an equally dark city night. The overall blackness is punctuated by tiny illuminated rectangles of windows at left and circles suggesting streetlights and headlights on a road that travels in perspective up the painting at right. To the right of the road are the even, gridlike gray windows of a sparsely illuminated office building.

Inside the Exhibition
Skyscraper Living: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Shelton Hotel

An unexpected move to a residential high-rise gave O’Keeffe a new perspective on nature and the built environment.

A view looking upward into the cone-shaped upper portion of a hanging textile work in loose beige weave. Viewed this way, it has the round, organic shape of a silver dollar. Wispy fiber tendrils surround the circular center in yellow and beige tones, blanketing and blurring the field of vision.

Inside the Exhibition
The Word That Gives Life: A Collaboration in Four Voices

Learn how curiosity about an indigenous fiber led to a shared vision of collectivity, creation, and care among two Colombian artists and two Ko’revaju leaders.

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Inside an Exhibition
Four Chicago Artists Walk into a Museum

And what they find helps to develop and refine their personal artistic visions.

Two children lay in the shadow of their house on the ground

Artists at Work
In Conversation: Abelardo Morell Explores the Universe in His Home

Curator Elizabeth Siegel and photographer Abelardo Morell discuss how years of working at home have helped him to rediscover the magic of lenses and vision.

A finely rendered drawing in shades of blue and white of a older man with beard and mustache clutching a young woman who holds onto him fiercely, her arms clasped above his head. All around them a storm approaches, white lightning piercing the dark-blue sky, hazy mountains in the distance.

Inside the Exhibition
Five Favorites of French Neoclassical Art

The curators behind two exhibitions of works from an unparalleled private collection share their must-see picks.

In the Lab (at Home)
It Broke: Dispatch from a Homeschooling Conservator

It’s not just about fixing things that are broken. It’s about finding those often elusive silver linings.

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.

Photograph shows a slim, medium-skinned teenage girl performing an arabesque in an art gallery in front of a life-sized sculpture of a woman and her dog. The women seems to be made of enormous pink shells; her dog, of large white shells. A city skyline can be seen behind the figures.

Top 10
Engaging Programs for Fall

Discover what’s in store this season with our quick and easy guide to artist talks, gallery programs, new installations, and other inspired offerings.

A conservator is seen from above treating a large abstract canvas by Francis Picabia.

From the Conservation Lab
Conservation FAQs

Photo shows a dark-haired young woman and girl in the foreground of a white gallery space looking at a printout while a young couple stands behind them, their backs to the viewer, looking at Jay DeFeo (Mary Joan DeFeo)’s The Annunciation, a large abstract painting suggesting large white wings with purple and teal on a black background.

Top 10
Ways to Spend a Summer Day

Whether you’re looking for something relaxing, thrilling, or creative to do, our list of can’t-miss summer offerings and events will help you plan the perfect visit.

Photo of a group of visitors standing before Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884," including a young girl in a light-green sundress who holds the hand of the woman standing next to her as they smile up at each other.

Top 10
Ways to Maximize Your Summer

Make the most of the season with art making for all ages, outdoor dining, special gatherings, and more this summer.

In the Lab
The Virtue of Patience: Bringing Malangatana to the Galleries

A conservator describes the rewarding process of preparing Malangatana’s paintings to hang in the exhibition.

Black print on cream-colored paper of a skeletal dog, ribs and other bones laid bare while some portions remain opaque. The lower-left portion of the image has been torn off entirely, as has the upper-right corner.

From the Conservation Lab
Caring for Two Woodcuts by Martin Puryear

The goal in conserving these works was not to hide the damage—the scars tell their own story.

In the bottom-left corner of a barren landscape, four ominous figures look at a butterfly, hourglass, and small sculpture. In the middle, a white-masked, blue-winged angel shows a rock to a horse-faced bust with breasts. To the left, white figures bathe in a black pool. On the right, a giraffe burns.

Inside an Exhibition
Doubling and Duplicity in Dalí’s Inventions of the Monsters

Marin Sarvé-Tarr discusses how the unconscious desires, fears, and anxieties that Dalí explores in his painting reveal a society in crisis.

Exploring the Collection
Rock vs. Paper in Chinese Art

In the centuries-long game of the destruction, deterioration, and reproduction of many Chinese artworks, the winner is not who you might think.

From the Conservation Lab
Art Scene Investigation: Testing the DNA of Sculptures

Photograph of a young light-skinned man with short black hair sitting on the floor of an art gallery holding a sketchpad, his back partially toward the viewer, as he looks toward a painting of a woman in blue.

Top 10
Our Fall Favorites

Looking to spice things up with creative activities, imaginative artworks, or just a really good chicken sandwich? It’s all here.

One Theme, Multiple Voices
Vote Now: Five Points of Reference

Five staff members select artworks that amplify and celebrate the right, privilege, and importance of voting.

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