The Top 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait ’til Junior Year to Visit the Art Institute

The Top 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait ’til Junior Year to Visit the Art Institute

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Why did I wait until my junior year at Loyola to visit the Art Institute of Chicago? I’ve been wondering the same thing. It’s not that I dislike art, because I absolutely love it. It’s not that I hate museums, because I find them so interesting. It’s not that I live too far away, because I’ve never lived closer.

Since freshman year I’ve been saying how badly I wanted to visit, but for one lame excuse or another I never made the trip downtown to visit one of the best art museums in the entire world. Now that I’ve been, I know exactly why you shouldn’t be like me and wait nearly 2 and 1/2 years to visit this incredible museum:

  1. It’s so easy to get to. Take the 147, the redline, a taxi. Chicago’s got plenty of transit options and the Art Institute is in an easily accessible downtown location, right at the end of Millennium Park.
  2. The 2nd largest collection of impressionist art. Chicago’s Art Institute is 2nd only to the Musee D’Orsay in Paris in terms of impressionist art (which just so happens to be my favorite style). How sweet is it that you don’t have to go to France to see Monet or Seurat?
  3. You’ll need more than one trip. In the few hours I spent at the museum this Saturday I didn’t see nearly half of the vast collection. I have every intention of visiting again in the near future and tackle the exhibits I missed the first time around.
  4. American Gothic, Nighthawks, Sunday Afternoon, Waterlilies. Some of the world’s most well-known pieces of art find their home in the same city as us, might as well visit your famous neighbors right?
  5. Did I forget to mention it’s free for Loyola students? One of Loyola’s best kept secrets is that with a valid LUC ID you can get into this museum for free! For 2 and 1/2 years I’ve been carrying around a free ticket to one of the world’s best art museums and didn’t even know it. Now that you do, don’t let your “ticket” go to waste.

Don’t be like me. Take a trip to the Art Institute as soon as you possibly can, and I promise if you even remotely enjoy museums or art, you won’t be disappointed.

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