Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago is absolutely enormous and has some stunning works of art. Some of its more notable pieces include Van Gogh's Self Portrait, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day and Grant Wood's American Gothic. I did my best to see as many of the notable pieces during the 3 hours of free admission on Thursday evenings, but the place is huge and it seems impossible to get everything in on even a month worth of free nights than on the one that I had to spend there.The exterior of the building is just as breathtaking though. I passed by it several times as I walked around Michigan Avenue and each time I had to stop to take it in.
The Grand Staircase was the first place that I got lost. I guess I misunderstood the layout of the building and I ended up walking around them at least twice before I realized where I was and where the areas I wanted to visit were. I wish I could have spent more time there and been able to take things in better.
Those of you who know me, know how much I love Impressionist art - Monet in particular, so that of course was the first place I tried to get to. I walked slowly through the Renoir room, the Van Gogh room and the various artist room (including Edgar Degas) and then got to a room that made me want to cry - The Monet room. Not only did this collection have the Water Lilies, but it had not one, not two but six haystack paintings. These paintings were created by Monet in the Autumn and Spring of 1890. There are 25 of these paintings and this is the largest number of them I have ever seen at once. As simple as these paintings are, they are my favourite impressionist paintings. One on its own is good but multiple paintings arranged together is so beyond words beautiful.