Back to The Art Institute

Dad and Levynn went directly to the museum after school today, taking advantage of the last free day during opening week of the Modern Wing. We hadn't seen any of the many paintings yet, and Dad knew there were several pieces and artists that Levynn would be excited to recognize.

We ate lunch in the cafe and then made the rounds. We found Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," which she recognized from the picture book "Katie and the Bathers;" Grant Wood's "American Gothic," which she recognized was the basis for the "God Bless America" statue next to Tribune Tower; and she took one look at a painting called "Greyed Rainbow" and shouted, "Jackson Pollock!"

She had never seen that Pollock painting, but it must have resembled "Lavender Mist" (featured in the picture book "Action Jackson") enough that she guessed it is his. (His paintings tend to do that!) There was a crowd of people circling it, and Levynn snuck through them, stood directly in front of it and said, "Oh, that's cool." When she didn't get a reaction from Dad, who still was standing behind the crowd, she said, "Look, Dad, isn't that cool?"

That was cool.