One of the big reasons we drove the 810.9 miles from Saratoga Springs to Chicago is so I can show Leesa a painting. It’s called Place de l’Europe on a Rainy Day and it’s lived at the Chicago Art Institute for nearly 60 years. It was created by Gustave Caillebotte in 1877 and stayed in his family until 1955 when carmaker Walter Chrysler bought it. I fell in love with the picture when I was an undergraduate hereabouts in the early 1970s. Good art has that effect on you. This work is haunting in many ways - the composition and the facial features, for example - but there’s one aspect of it I’ve always found enthralling.
© 2024 John Oliver
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