MCARTHUR BINION: A MUST-SEE ART GUIDE: CHICAGO

A city that takes pride in its industrious past, Chicago is the birthplace of the zipper and the United States’ first skyscraper. Like many other East-Coast cities, it has a charming balance of past, present, and future; perfect for art lovers itching to explore the new and the old. This month, Chicago is hosting the fifth edition of EXPO CHICAGO, a fair of contemporary art with 140 participating galleries from around the world. If your’re looking for something a bit more timeless, visit the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, considered one of the finest outside of France, and includes work by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, and Pierre August Renoir. If you’re not in the mood for the tranquil hallways of a museum, then take to the streets and enjoy the city’s public art collection, one of the best in the world, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, Alexander Calder, Anthony Caro, as well as Anish Kapoor’s iconic Cloud Gate. There’s enough culture in Chicago to satisfy any art lover, so while visiting the city’s historic sites and events, check out these galleries which are making the Windy City a leading presence in contemporary art.