Best Things to Do in Chicago for Art, Culture, and Architecture Lovers
A guide to Chicago’s top museums, performances, and can’t-miss attractions—including its newest landmark
Chicagoans continue to squeeze into world-class museum galleries and world-premiere opera seats, and to jam-pack festivals devoted to blues and film, architecture and food. But there’s no doubt that the biggest buzz around town is captured in one word: Obama.
This summer will see the long-awaited opening of the Obama Presidential Center in the South Side’s Jackson Park. Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, it’s marked by a 225-foot granite tower inscribed with a message that begins “You are America,” pulled from a speech the former president delivered in 2015. Aside from a museum, the 19-acre campus will feature a new public library branch, gathering spaces, dining options and athletic facilities, all linked by parks and playgrounds.
Vital visuals
Soaring buildings and clattering trains, a winding river and a great lake, a Magnificent Mile of high-end shops and, even, a magical “bean”: Chicago’s downtown icons certainly rival those of New York, Paris and London. Its eye-opening splendors continue at the Art Institute of Chicago, where must-sees include George Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 and Edward Hopper’s meme of loneliness Nighthawks. But don’t miss special collections like a series of meticulously crafted miniature period rooms and installations of stained-glass windows and iron grilles from Chicago buildings past.
At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, exhibitions such as the recent Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind emphasize thought-provoking works that challenge us to make of them what we will. Back outside, monumental public sculptures in the Loop (the area demarcated by the downtown portion of the city’s elevated train system) include signature works from Picasso and Calder as well as Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, commonly known as “the Bean.”
To the south, visitors will find plenty more to explore. To dig deep for diamonds and dinosaurs, check out the Field Museum. To follow the voyages of submarines and spacecraft, it’s the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. For a closer look at the city itself, the Chicago History Museum views America’s third-largest city through the lenses of its citizens, from pre-Civil War (Abraham Lincoln) to today (its Latino populations).
Buffs of the (Frank Lloyd) Wright stuff will want to head a bit farther south still to the Frederick C. Robie House (1910), one of the architect’s best examples of his celebrated Prairie style. Or venture to the inner suburb of Oak Park, about 10 miles west, to visit Wright’s Unity Temple (1908) and the home and studio he built for his family in 1889.
Lively arts
Long a force both in originating productions and serving as a stop on the Broadway circuit, Chicago is a major theater town. Its two powerhouse regional companies, The Goodman downtown and Steppenwolf, about three miles north, have been staging new work for decades, while popular road show musicals and classics check in regularly at the Chicago Theater and the James M. Nederlander, among others.
For something completely different, may we suggest Teatro ZinZanni? A delightful combination of acrobatic circus and antics-filled cabaret, it delivers gasps and laughs in rapid-fire order—all under an antique Spiegeltent, a magically mirrored and hand-carved wooden big top from Belgium.
If you want to get your glam on, an evening amid the Art Deco luminosity of the Civic Opera House or in OrchestraHall’s grand Beaux Arts auditorium thrills with opera, ballet and classical music performances.