Won't You Please Come to Chicago

Where the Mother Road begins

Or else join the other side.

My National Employment Lawyers Association group had its annual convention in Chicago. Two and one-half days in the City of Big Shoulders. And that was just about it, as I had only a limited amount of time before next week's big trip.

My room in the Chicago Hilton had a view of the Sears Tower, which now called something else but I'm old so I always call things by the names they used to have it. That's the Sears Tower. Always will be.  I had no time for tourism until Saturday. And, even then, I only had two hours before I needed to head to Midway for the flight home. In a land that's known as freedom, how can such a thing be fair?

I chose one sight. And I chose the Art Institute of Chicago, because (a) it was a short walk from the Chicago Hilton and (b) I wanted to see Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," which for some reason I knew was in this museum.

The half-mile walk to the museum, along Michigan Avenue, was nice:

I think that's Grant Park over on the other side of the road:

Now, into the museum:

Giovanni Crespi's "The Wedding At Cana," which I may have seen before. Or maybe I've seen other "Wedding At Cana" paintings in various museums. Either way, this was a good one.

This technically counts as a selfie, since this work was inside a glass box and my reflection is quite visible. We'll call it "Selfie at 'The Battle Between the Gods and the Giants' by Joachim Antonisz."

This next one I loved for the semi-unintentional symbolism:

"Cupid Chastised," by Bartolomeo Manfredi. Chastised? It's more like "Cupid Being Brutally Assaulted." Which sort of sums up my attitude toward love.

I then stumbled upon one of the more renowned paintings in the museum, El Greco's "The Assumption of the Virgin."

I like El Greco.

At this point, time is running short, so I go on a quest.

I'm looking for "Nighthawks" but I found the medieval armaments room. And I also found what also is one of most prominent works in the museum, Georges Seurat, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grand Jatte."

It might be his most famous work. It drew the crowd, More of a crowd than any of the other works on display.

Unlike this very prominent work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, "Equistrienne."

Nobody was getting up close and personal with this very renowned work.

And then I found it!

No, not "Nighthawks." Something even better!  The Corot room!  The above is the wonderful "Souvenir of the Environs of Lake Nemi." What I love about it is that it looks so much like every other Corot landscape. When something is working, stick with it. I mean, how many "Haystacks" did Van Gogh do? So let's let Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot be Jean-Bapiste-Camille Corot.

I wasn't the only one admiring the Corots. And, please note the completely awesome gold slacks on the one woman admiring the Corots.

And then ... Whomp ... There it is!

Edward Hopper "Nighthawks."

You might not know it by name, but you know it by theme. The Jazz Age diner scene painting.

Worth inserting myself into the diner scene over.  Right nearby, the museum had this work:

Archibald J. Motley, Jr.'s "Nightlife," which was intended as the black response to Hopper's "Nighthawks." I like them both.

And then, wandering a bit, I ran into this very famous painting that the Art Institute of Chicago does not even prominently list as being among its collection:

Grant Wood, "American Gothic," one of THE definitive American paintings.

Despite the lack of promotion, it draws a crowd.

Ooops. Look at the time. Time to head off to Midway to catch my flight home. My two hours of tourist time in the Toddlin' Town have come to an end.