Sunday in the Park vs. Man Painting Himself, which would you choose?

We decided a short outing to the Art Institute would be a good idea for today, and it was a good idea--no meltdowns, no fits, we even made it home in time for lunch and afternoon naps.  The impetus of our trip was to see A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.  FInn's class has been studying picnics (I know, what's there to study? But you'd be surprised.) They've been talking a lot about the poster of this painting hanging in their class.  Of course when Mrs. Coogan mentioned the painting a couple of weeks ago in one of her email updates, it occurred to me that we could go see it in person.  Then, when I read in her email on Friday that another family had taken their daughter to see the painting, as if it was such a big deal, even though, really, the Art Institute is, what, ten miles away?  Well, my Tiger Mom instinct reared its ugly head and I knew we had to go see it.    

I should not have been surprised that seeing the huge, original painting in person did not phase Finn in the least.  He looked at it for less than five seconds and then insisted we check out the cool ramp leading away from the painting.  

Instead, Finn's favorite piece of art was Bruce Nauman's "Art Make-Up" or "The Man Painting Himself," as Finn and I called it.  It is a video installation in the Modern Wing, a black room with the same video playing on all four walls.  When we walked in the man happened to be painting himself red, on top of his already-painted white skin.  When he finished the red, I figured we'd seen enough, so we moved on.  Later Finn asked if we go back and see if the man was still painting himself, so we did and he was.  We sat in the middle of the room, Finn enthralled with the man.  We watched as he painted himself numerous colors and finally seemed satisfied when he was starkly black.  Meanwhile Finn played with various existential questions, such as whether or not the man would take a shower to get the paint off.

Oh, and Wylie's favorite part was...yeah, we still have very little insight into Wylie's likes and dislikes.  He enjoyed eating Cheerios while being pushed in his stroller, attempting to climb out of his stroller, and waving at random people as we walked about the museum!