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d’Orsay, aswell as some 3,500European sculptures and paintings from the 12th to the 20th century. TheDepartment of AmericanArt covers the subject from the 18th century to 1950, and is home tomagnificent works by JohnSinger Sargent, JamesMcNeillWhistler,MaryCassatt andWinslow Homer, aswell as iconicmodernist works fromGeorgia O’Keeffe to theMexicanmuralist DiegoRivera. TheAsian collection covers almost fivemillennia and theDepartment ofModernArt exhibitsworks from 1945until today, with works byWillemdeKooning, EvaHesse, Jasper Johns, EllsworthKelly, JoanMitchell, BruceNauman, Jackson Pollock, GerhardRichter andCy Twombly, toname some of themore exceptional pieces. In total, themuseum is home to around 260,000pieces of art: not for nothing is the ‘Windy City’s’ cultural provision thought better than that of New York. Indeed, the city’s nickname comes from the cold air currents from theArctic that cross LakeMichigan and create whirlwinds of cold air that rushbetween the tall buildings. Returning to themuseum, thebuilding itself is amust for its architectural beauty, especially since the 2009 additionof the ‘ModernWing’, an extensionof themuseumdestined to displaying essentially Europeanmodern art. The transparent façade of themuseum is a critically-acclaimedpiece of work by theGenoveseRenzoPiano (winner of the 1998Pritzker Prize),made largely of glass andmetal, evoking the city’s iconic skyline. Thiswingon its own is home toover 500,000 pieces of art on apermanent basis. TheMuseumof ContemporaryArt has been, since its establishment in 1967, one of theworld leaders in its genre. Itswalls are home to the first exhibitions by artists like Frida Kahlo, AndyWarhol or Alexander Calder. It has collections ranging from surrealist, pop,minimalist to conceptual or evenpostmodernist. Aparticularly educational visit for anyonewishing to find their place in relation to the ever- controversial discipline of contemporary art, itself an expressionusedby somany that is so little-understood. From 1996, theMuseumhas been in the northof the city, barely 20minutes from theArt Institute, towhich it is joined byMichiganAvenue for car-users. For pedestrians, the route is pleasant and after crossingMillenniumPark, it crosses the river anddrops you at themuseum steps. The current building, which is essentially apractical onewith a versatile structure, is by thedeceasedGerman architect Josef Paul Kleihues, known for his theories onpoetic rationalism: an attempt tomarry functional aestheticswith elegant architecture. Without leaving the Loop, I would suggest visiting the ChicagoCultural Center, amulticultural space that in its day was the central city library (which itself has beenmoved to a spaciousmodernist building since 1991). Thebuilding is a hive of exhibitions and cultural activities of all kinds, and, just as adetail, the Tiffany glasswork in its dome is the largest in theworld. But,more than this, the city’s educational provision for thosewhowish to study art is really quite attractive, not only because of the Institutewhich heads up the list, but for other resources such asColumbiaCollege, the largest private art university in theUS, theAmericanAcademy of Art, home toprofessional artists that alsooffers the opportunity to train in humanities, or the Lillstreet Art Center, a community organisationwhere there is no formal title awarded, but one can learnnonetheless. If River North is thebest-known art hubwithin the city and theChicagoArtsDistrict is themost experimental,West Leep iswithout doubt theplace to find artists halfway through their career. To finishoff our afternoon andwinddown, we recommend following thepaths that skirt the edge of LakeMichigan; quitedelightful if theweather is good and thewind is not too strong. Toput the cherry on the cake of aday full of discoveries, it isworthdiggingdeep andbooking a table at TheSignatureRoom, a restaurant on the 95th floor of the JohnHancockCenter.While it is not exactly the cheapest option, the views arepriceless, especially at sundown in good company. AlaModernadel Instituto deArtedeChicago/ ModernWingof theArt Instituteof Chicago. Foto/ Photo RobCleary. 131