Cloud Gate: Chicago’s big “egg” sculpture at Millenium Park

August 28th, 2008 by Erich Vieth

Ever been to Chicago’s Millenium Park? If so, you’ve probably had some from at the “egg,” more properly known as “Cloud Gate.” My family and I just returned from a perfect three-day trip to Chicago, where we made two visits to “Cloud Gate,” a tremendously fun and interactive sculpture at Millenium Park.

According to this Millenium Park site,

Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a “gate” to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Cloud Gate invites you both to stand back and view the city and to reach out and touch your own reflection.

The reflections can be simple, or complex if you enter the arched side of the “egg,”

or very complex.

My favorite Cloud gate photos are at night, however.

It is probably obvious that Chicago is one of my favorite places to visit, for many reasons (see here , here and here).

Thanks to my daughters for helping me with these photos . . .

4 Responses to “Cloud Gate: Chicago’s big “egg” sculpture at Millenium Park”

  1. Grace Says:

    What great photos! It’s been a while since I’ve been to Chicago–my best memories include FREEZING in the wind of Michigan Ave and those fabulous Monets at the Art Museum. Now I’ll have to add the EGG to my list of Must-sees. Thank you! G.

  2. Mike Pulcinella Says:

    So cool! Great pix too! I gotta go back to Chi-town!

  3. Martin Says:

    In Chicago (not Chi-town Mike), we refer to Cloudgate as “The Bean”.

  4. Mike Pulcinella Says:

    From Wikipedia:

    “Chi-Town” or “Chitown” — Pronunciation of this nickname can vary from /ˈtʃɑɪ.tɑʊn/ to /ˈʃɑɪ.tɑʊn/ (from chai-town to shai-town). (An ironic homophone to “shy-town”.)

Leave a Reply

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word