Of course there is plenty of stuff to see and do in Chicago. It is a huge and vibrant city. One of the qualities that makes it a great city is its commitment to public art. Some of the more famous examples are the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza (pictured at right), and the Marc Chagall mural The Four Seasons (pictured below). In addition to works by world-famous artists like Picasso, Chagall, Calder, Miro, and Dubuffet, Chicago also hosts a large number of community murals. In the 1960s, Chicago was the birthplace of the community mural movement in America. Members of communities got together to create works of art that beautified their neighborhoods and celebrated their cultures. The city of Chicago continues to value public art by commissioning works by contemporary artists in public spaces like Navy Pier and Milennium Park.

An excellent book that covers all of Chicago's murals, from all time periods, is A Guide to Chicago's Murals, by Mary Lackritz Gray, published in 2001 by University of Chicago Press.

Chicago also hosts a number of great museums. The Art Institute of Chicago is simply the greatest art museum in the Midwest (though Milwaukee is doing its best to catch up). The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is not really my cup of tea, mainly because there are no paintings or prints to be found. The art world has moved away from these traditional media towards found object sculpture, conceptual art, video and other new technologies, and this museum is a reflection of that change. Another museum that I do like is the Terra Museum of American Art, which is a smaller venue, but hosts a good collection of American paintings of the 19th and early 20th century.

The Four Seasons by Marc Chagall, a glass tile mosaic

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