Arts & Culture
One of the most significant exhibitions of the year just opened on Michigan Avenue. "Willem de Kooning Drawing" brings more than 200 works to the Art Institute of Chicago, the first show to explore the full scope of how one of the 20th century's defining artists put pencil and brush to paper. Here is what to know, and how to make an art day downtown effortless.
From June 14 through September 20, 2026, the Art Institute of Chicago is host to Willem de Kooning Drawing, a major ticketed exhibition in the museum's main Regenstein Hall. It is billed as the first exhibition to explore the full scope of de Kooning's drawing practice, and it gathers more than 200 works spanning roughly seven decades, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and prints, tracing his restless movement between figuration and abstraction.
For anyone who loves art, or simply loves a great reason to spend a day in the heart of the city, this is the exhibition to build a trip around. And the Art Institute sits in one of the most walkable, ride-friendly corners of the Loop.
Willem de Kooning was a central figure of Abstract Expressionism, the postwar movement that made New York the center of the art world. But where many of his peers are defined by a single signature style, de Kooning never stopped moving, between the figure and pure abstraction, between control and chaos, across an unusually long career. Drawing was the thread that ran through all of it.
Pulling together 200-plus works to show that practice in full is a rare undertaking, the kind of exhibition that draws visitors and scholars from well beyond Chicago. If you have any interest in modern art, it is worth seeing in person, where the scale, texture, and energy of the work come through in a way no screen can capture.
The exhibition is reason enough, but the Art Institute of Chicago is a destination in its own right. Founded in 1879 and guarded by its famous pair of bronze lions on Michigan Avenue, it holds one of the finest encyclopedic collections in the country, Monet's haystacks and water lilies, Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte," Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," Grant Wood's "American Gothic," and Van Gogh's "The Bedroom" among them. You can spend a focused hour with de Kooning or lose a full, happy day in the galleries.
We will drop you right at the Art Institute's Michigan Avenue steps and pick you up when you have had your fill, no garage, no walk in the weather. Book a ride or call (708) 289-0488.
The Art Institute sits on Michigan Avenue between the Loop and the lakefront, which is to say, in one of the busiest, priciest places to park in Chicago. Garage rates downtown are steep, street parking is nearly mythical, and on a weekend with good weather the whole area is crowded. None of that is a problem if you are not the one parking.
A Loop car service drops you at the door and returns on your schedule. You walk straight from the car to the galleries and back, which matters even more if you are making a longer day of it on foot.
The Art Institute anchors a stretch of the city that has more to offer within a few blocks than almost anywhere else. Pair the exhibition with:
We can chain it all into one booking with a chauffeur, so a culture-packed day never turns into a logistics puzzle.
The Art Institute is a top reason visitors come to Chicago, and we make the arrival simple. We provide flat-rate transfers from O'Hare and Midway with flight tracking and meet-and-greet, plus rides for visiting groups, corporate outings, and executive clients in town for business who want to slip in an afternoon at the museum.
Great exhibitions come and go, and a show of this scale does not pass through often. Get your tickets, pick your afternoon, and let us handle the trip downtown so the only thing you have to think about is the art.
