Perks of Membership

I am a member of the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago which means I can go for free whenever I want which is very nice considering I work around the corner and it makes for an excellent break at lunchtime.  Plus I get to bring a guest for free whenever I go, so it ends up being frequented when I have out of town visitors or newbies to Chicago.

 

Well, they just opened their first very special extra admission exhibit since I purchased my membership.  Wait, actually tomorrow they open that exhibit, but I went yesterday for their exclusive member preview.  Just me and maybe 100 other people wandered through many, many gothically lit galleries all displaying Edward Much and his contemporaries paintings, wood cuttings, and sculpture.  I felt very important and fancy, and it was a FABULOUS break from my job.

 

But I don't really like Munch.  At most I enjoy some of his color combinations, and he had this series of sort of blue, gloomy, serene paintings that seemed very dreary but appealing to me (mostly because they were filled with the colors in the palette of my own wardrobe).  But there were some really awesome paintings by other painters on display.  A fabulous Monet portrait of Mrs. Monet in a red kerchief and a few other bright expressionist street scapes that I want to hang in my house although I suspect they are out of my budget.

 

Alas, I knind of had to breeze through it really fast, and I don't even remember seeing "the Scream" if it was even in the exhibition, but that seems a weird omission in such a comprehensive display, so I guess I will go back later.  Because my membership card means I get to see these exhibits for free as long as they are not at capacity.  I think that is cool.  Although all Chicagoans, the musuem is free all February except for the pay to play Munch exhibit (which I think would still be cheaper than regular general admission), and they have redone things up in the last few months all in preparation for their modern wing to open in the spring.  That means the Pollock is no longer out as well as the stuff near it, but they have beautifully rearranged a lot of the rest of the collection including the dreary and dark hall of armor becoming a bright and airy hall of asians (well you know ancient asian art).