Chicago's Art Institute: Modern Art Isn't Necessarily Silly

"The Art Institute of Chicago"

"The purposes for which the Art Institute of Chicago is formed are: to found, build, maintain, and operate museums, schools, libraries of art, and theaters; to provide support facilities in connection therewith; to conduct appropriate activities conducive to the artistic development of the region; and to conduct and participate in appropriate activities of national and international significance;

"To form, conserve, research, publish, and exhibit a permanent collection of objects of art of all kinds; to present temporary exhibitions that include loaned objects of art of all kinds; and to cultivate and extend the arts by appropriate means;..." ("Mission")

I know: but that's the way their mission statement's punctuation went.

I saw part of a "Top Cat" cartoon, where Top Cat observes that the message of one modern painting was 'don't paint while drunk.'

I'll admit that quite a bit of contemporary 'art' seems to be a greater tribute to the marketing abilities of artists than to their creative talents. But, buried behind expensive tracts of splattered canvas, I think there's something to study, too. And not just by people interested in abnormal psychology.

Chicago's Art Museum's website is mostly a tool to draw people into the museum, induce them to give money to the museum, or interest them in what the museum's shop has to offer (including pictures of Claude Monet's Water Lilies).

On the other hand, browsing through it is a fairly easy way to see what's happening in the art world. From the curators' point of view, anyway.