Tag: art

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Monet and Chicago

1} Water Lily Pond, 1900 2} Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, 1903 3} Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908
4} Family photograph of Claude Monet 5} Houses of Parliament, London, 1900-1901

Life continues to be unsettling and at times difficult due to the pandemic. We are seven months in and COVID-19 along with politics are still at the center of our lives. Where does one go to escape? How do we bring a bit of normalcy to our existence?  Well …. here’s the perfect mini getaway, Monet’s Paris has come to Chicago!

While in the city last week, our team procured tickets to the Monet and Chicago at the Art Institute of Chicago, which will be on exhibit until January 18, 2020. The museum has 33 paintings and 13 drawings of Monet’s that constitutes the largest collection of works by the artist outside of Paris. Here’s a video I’ve watched a few times detailing Monet’s artistic process of painting and deleting items in a series, which is fabulous to view: Beyond the Surface/ Discovering Monet.

Lately, I find myself constantly seeking out beauty from my surroundings; articles that I have read or from the interesting people I social distance with when at work. But, seeing these Impressionistic paintings has ignited my passion for drawing and painting. Perhaps, Claude Monet did say it best: “Every day I discover more and more beautiful things,” he wrote. “It’s enough to drive one mad.”

Stay inspired,
Kathleen


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Destination: Chicago

Last, January while in Paris we had an extremely tight schedule visiting museums and galleries over a three-and half-day period. The city was unusually crowded due to the protesting of with thousands of public transportation drivers, teachers, and public sector workers marching throughout the city. Unions disrupted metro and overground services which upped our walking mileage on average to 8-12 miles per day.

On our last day we had timed tickets to see the El Greco exhibit at the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées. Unfortunately, the protestors were in such an uproar due to a response from Emmanuel Macron that we couldn’t get close to the museum. That night at dinner each of us reviewed our notes and saw the El Greco exhibit was on its way to the Art Institute of Chicago. Then the virus rolled around, and in March we were all social-distancing.

Well, last week several of our team had meetings in Chicago and were able to fit the El Greco: Ambition and Defiance exhibit into their schedules…. I was thrilled.

  • Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1567-70
  • The Entombment of Christ, about 1572
  • View of Toledo, 1599-1600
  • The Feast in the House of Simon, 1608-14

Regarded as one of the most foremost painters of the Spanish Renaissance, El Greco’s works are renowned for their spiritual intensity and elongated figures, along with an unnatural flesh tone. He trained in Crete as a Byzantine icon painter then moved to Italy in 1567 to study with Venetian Renaissance painters Titan and Tintoretto.

Our crew also had the opportunity to view the Monet and Chicago exhibit while at the Art Institute so, more on that later.

Stay safe and enjoy,
Kathleen