It’s summer in the city, which means taking every chance to be outside. Even Chicago’s great museums seem claustrophobic when there are blue skies and a nice lake breeze.
Fortunately, if you want to see art in Chicago, there’s plenty outdoors. Biking around the city, I am always either running into unexpected treasures, like the aluminum “Portage” by Ted Sitting Crow Garner on Milwaukee Avenue near Six Corners, or revisiting old favorites like Lorado Taft’s “Fountain of the Great Lakes” outside the Art Institute. Along with a wealth of new public work on the campus of the Obama Presidential Center, there are also fun new temporary pieces, like the swimmer sculptures by Carole Feuerman along the Magnificent Mile through November.
“Survival of Serena” is one of a series of swimmer sculptures by artist Carole Feuerman installed outside Water Tower Place, June 2, 2026, along North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Ten displays in the outdoor art exhibit will line the Magnificent Mile through November. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
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“Survival of Serena” is one of a series of swimmer sculptures by artist Carole Feuerman installed outside Water Tower Place, June 2, 2026, along North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Ten displays in the outdoor art exhibit will line the Magnificent Mile through November. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“It’s a beautiful thing when art exists outside of the museum walls,” said Ionit Behar, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art. “It creates a different relationship with artists and the artwork, and it becomes more integrated with everyday life.”
Rachel Sabino, a conservator with the Art Institute of Chicago, said the city has an unusually rich collection of public art, especially in Grant Park and the museum campus. “There’s an incredible density of sculpture… It’s one of the things that makes Chicago and the Loop such a fantastic place for visitors,” Sabino said.
Here is our list of 10, in no particular order. Feel free to make your own.
The Picasso
Unveiled in August 1967 in what is now Daley Plaza, Pablo Picasso’s gift to the city was not an instant hit. Columnist Mike Royko thought the Cubist sculpture looked “like some giant insect that is about to eat a smaller, weaker insect,” and marveled that the Spanish artist had seemingly captured the city’s soul. It’s now a magnet for both tourists and schoolchildren — the latter enjoy sliding down its slanted base. It’s impossible to pass the 50-foot steel oddity without mentally engaging with it, wondering what it represents. Here’s hoping construction at nearby Chase Tower Plaza is over soon so we can see Marc Chagall’s “The Four Seasons” again. (At 50 W. Washington St. in the Loop)
Illinois Centennial Monument
People walk near the Illinois Centennial Monument in the Logan Square neighborhood, Aug. 3, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Illinois’ statehood, this 1918 piece was designed by Henry Bacon, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It’s a marble Doric column topped by an eagle, with reliefs around the base depicting Native Americans, explorers, farmers and laborers designed by Evelyn Beatrice Longman, a pioneering woman sculptor. I love it not just for itself but its location — atop a park full of trees and foot traffic, with musicians and skateboarders. New lighting is closer to the “color temperature” of the original early 20th-century lamps, said Sabino. “It really enhances the sculpture.” (At 3200 W. Logan Blvd. in Logan Square)
Lorado Taft’s “Fountain of Time”
A portion of the sculpture “Fountain of Time,” by Lorado Taft, on Payne Drive in Chicago’s Washington Park on Aug. 3, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
This massive steel-reinforced concrete sculpture, more than 126 feet long, was finished in 1920 at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance in Washington Park. Father Time faces 100 figures, including children, soldiers and lovers. It is overwhelming in the best way — a wave of people moving through history. (At 6000 S. Cottage Grove Ave. at the Midway Plaisance)
Magdalena Abakanowicz’s “Agora”
A person reads in “Agora,” a sculpture by Magdalena Abakanowicz, on Aug. 3, 2026, in Chicago’s Grant Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Installed in 2006 and composed of 106 headless, armless figures made of rusting iron, this installation by Magdalena Abakanowicz hits differently depending on how I see it. When I’m with company, it seems comic, even joyful, a celebration of urban bustle. When I’m alone, it makes me feel like a scared little kid, lost in a crowd. (At 1135 S. Michigan Ave. in South Grant Park)
Hebru Brantley’s “Fantastic Flying Lil Mama”
A child rides past a statue titled “Fantastic Flying Lil Mama” by artist Hebru Brantley in the Austin neighborhood on Aug. 3, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Also known as “Flygirl,” this joyful Hebru Brantley figure depicts a little girl with goggles and high-top sneakers bursting out of a cloud. Installed in 2024 near a mural of Black heroes, she fronts a plaza that hosts special events. Destiny Wilkerson, co-owner of the Spill the Beans coffee shop across the street, said she likes to look at “Lil Mama” out her window. “It makes it seem like the future is bright — it’s really cool.” (At 5256 W. Chicago Ave. in Austin)
The Ulysses S. Grant Monument by Louis Rebisso
The Ulysses S. Grant Monument by Louis Rebisso in Lincoln Park on Aug. 3, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
“Hero-on-horseback” sculptures may be old-fashioned, but this one is special. At the time of its completion in 1891, the 18-foot-tall figure was the largest bronze statue cast in the U.S., depicting the general who helped win the Civil War. In 2021, an announcement that the statue was under review for possible removal was hit by a flood of criticism from historians. I love how the statue soars above the park and seems to guard it. (At 2045 N. Lincoln Park W. in Lincoln Park off Lake Shore Drive)
Jenny Kendler’s “Birds Watching” on the Bloomingdale Trail
A runner passes the “Birds Watching” sculpture by artist Jenny Kendler on The 606 in the Logan Square neighborhood, Aug. 3, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
This 40-foot-long steel and aluminum sculpture shows the eyes of 100 different bird species that are either threatened or endangered by climate change, and is by Chicago artist Jenny Kendler. Installed in 2018, the sculpture is colorful but also can make you uneasy. You are always being observed. And judged. (West of the 606 Trail entrance at 1760 N. Spaulding Ave.)
World’s Fair Bison in Humboldt Park
Bison from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition stand in Humboldt Park on Aug. 3, 2026. The artist Edward Kemeys is also responsible for sculpting the lions outside the Art Institute of Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
This male and female pair was originally designed for the 1893 World’s Fair in plaster by Edward Kemeys, who also did the Art Institute lions. The bison were recast in bronze and eventually found a home in Humboldt Park. I love them because they seem so incongruous in the park’s formal garden, ghosts of Chicago’s pre-urban past, emerging near tidy flower beds. (Near 3000 W. Division St. and the east entrance to Humboldt Park’s formal garden)
The CTA Garfield Green Line station
Work by Chicago artist Nick Cave in the CTA Garfield Green Line station on Jan. 10, 2019. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
The CTA has 80 installations, and picking just one to feature is hard. There are the David Lee Csicsko mosaics at Belmont; the Mexican history murals at 18th Street; and the Theaster Gates “america, america” tapestry of decommissioned fire hoses at 95th Street. On Behar’s advice, I went with Nick Cave’s 2018 “Free/Formal” mix of floral tile mosaics and pillars at the Garfield Green Line station, done in collaboration with designer Bob Faust. It takes you out of your surroundings and into a dreamy jungle. (At 320 E. Garfield Blvd.)
Art Institute of Chicago gardens
Simone Leigh’s “Sharifa” stands in the Art Institute of Chicago sculpture garden, Aug. 3, 2026, in Grant Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Visitors view the “Fountain of the Great Lakes,” a bronze work by sculptor Lorado Taft, in the Art Institute of Chicago South Garden, Aug. 3, 2026, in Grant Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The South Garden of the Art Institute has the marvelous “Fountain of the Great Lakes,” while the North Garden includes Alexander Calder’s red “Flying Dragon” and Simone Leigh’s “Sharifa.” The latter piece, installed in 2024, is a 9-foot-tall bronze woman, deep in thought. The gardens are among the best places in the city to read, eat your lunch, and consider life beyond the ordinary. (At 111 S. Michigan Ave.)
Mary Wisniewski is a freelance writer.