Seek • October 1, 2024

A Day at the Museum: Georgia O’Keeffe’s “My New Yorks” at The Art Institute of Chicago

This exhibit first caught my eye as I was driving home from the city one evening and I saw a “Georgia O’Keeffe My New Yorks” advertisement painted on the side of an industrial building. Wait a minute I thought – didn’t Georgia O’Keeffe live in New Mexico and paint lots of flowers and cow skulls? What did she know about New York? Quite a lot I soon came to find out.

The next week, with my curiosity piqued, I asked my good friend if she’d like to go and off we went (actually a couple of weeks later- life sometimes gets in the way of broadening your horizons).

As luck would have it, my friend is a member, and we were able to gain early entry into the museum and we quickly shuffled off to the special exhibit wing along with the other “regulars”. 

We entered the exhibit and were immediately struck with paintings depicting skyscrapers and cityscapes in much darker colors than one would expect from O’Keeffe. It turns out that the artist spent many of her earlier years as an artist with her husband in New York City- years before her more well-known time in the Southwest.  It was a 5-year period of experimentation where she lived in the tallest residential skyscraper in the world and painted across all mediums. 

My particular favorite was “The Shelton with Sunspots” (below) – it embodies something that the artist herself once said “One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.”  Anyone who has been in New York for any extended period will wholeheartedly agree.

After a quick twirl through the Impressionist wing – you can’t go to the Art Institute without seeing all those beautiful Monets- we of course had to go across the street to The Gage for a “ladies lunch” and finish our day off properly with truffle fries.

It was a wonderful day with a good friend where I learned that there is more to people – even world famous artists – than meets the eye. It was fun to be a tourist in your own city - so often you don’t take advantage of all that it has to offer. I will most certainly be expanding my cultural universe more often!

A couple of tips for your museum outing:

  • Membership has its privileges! For the Art Institute, it means admission for 2 adults, children under 18 get in for free, early entry hours and discounted parking at the nearby garage. ($115/year)

  • Always check museum hours and days before planning your trip. Interestingly, the Art Institute is open on Mondays, but closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (historically its least visited days).

  • There are also free admission days which change throughout the year - but definitely worth it to check out.

  • Many restaurants nearby offer parking validation (ours did) and it really saves you some money.

Can’t make it to a museum? No worries. Check out these world class museums that offer virtual tours. You’ll have to make your own truffle fries though.