chicago: the art! art! art!

After lunch, Grrrbear gave me his Art Institute member card, dropped me off at the El station, and sent me downtown. I adopted my normal plan for art museums: keep moving. If I try to look at everything, or even anything close to everything, my brain gets full after the first room and I can't concentrate on anything else.

So I saw all the famous stuff, like this:

which was apparently in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, because everyone keeps asking me about it, but I saw that movie once about 18 years ago and don't remember it at all. Other famous paintings: American Gothic and Nighthawks. But they pretty much looked like you'd expect, and I'd seen Nighthawks on tour a few years ago.

I considered skipping the European art before 1900, 'cause that stuff can be bor-ring, but I decided just to walk through. And I totally fell in love with this St. George and the Dragon from 15th century Spain:

Of course it was cooler in person. (It shows up better here - click on the painting to enlarge.)

When I was in Berlin this February, I went to the Egyptian Museum on a day when my brain was already full (sigh) and I couldn't appreciate anything but the one famous piece. I was bummed about this, because there isn't much Egyptian stuff in D.C. so I don't get many opportunities to see it. So I was excited about the tiny Egyptian room at the Art Institute, and would you look at this adorable chick?

So cute!