The couple in “American Gothic” may be blushing. The Art Institute of Chicago, home to Grant Wood’s iconic American painting and several other works of art, is the No. 1 museum in the U.S. and in the world, according to Travelers Choice awards announced Tuesday by the travel website TripAdvisor.
“On every visit, I go here,” said a review of the Art Institute by a user of TripAdvisor, whose enthusiasms guided the award choices. “It never gets old. Paintings from every era, works from every great artist.”
The site issues the awards to win publicity (such as this), of course, but at least it uses the term “algorithm” in explaining its methodology: “Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews for museums worldwide, gathered over a 12-month period,” said the company.
Other Illinois institutions to place in the list of top 25 U.S. museums were Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry at No. 16 and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, in Springfield, at 19. Neither made the world Top 25. On the list of U.S. attractions, the Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park ranked No. 6, between the USS Arizona Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Lincoln Park Zoo, on the North Side, placed No. 12 on the top zoos list, and guess where the Second City came in on the list of top U.S. destinations? Hint: New York City was No. 1.
Oh, and about “American Gothic”? It’s actually on loan right now to a museum in Cincinnati that is not on the list.
Here’s the rest of the Top 10 on the TripAdvisor global list:
2. National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia), Mexico City
3. State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
4. The Getty Center, Los Angeles
5. Galleria dell’Accademia/Statue of David, Florence, Italy
6. Musee d’Orsay, Paris
7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
8. The Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece
9. Prado Museum, Madrid
10. Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem
