Art Institute Of Chicago Private Expert Guided Tour

Our tour guide, Scout was excellent. She spoke passionately about the art work she showed us and gave us a highlights tour of the museum. We were lucky enough to get a private tour, as we were the only ones in the group! Would highly recommend the tour - it was well worth the money and we were very happy with the experience.

Our family had a wonderful tour with Spiro - he brought a lot of insight into different periods of art that he also tied together in ways we weren't expecting - and he made a museum I had already been to feel new while making the first visit for our daughter very accessible. Highly recommend!!

Mark was a very informed and friendly guide. He took us through the highlights in 2 hours and gave interesting background from an artist's perspective.

Honestly, I enjoyed every minute of this tour. Scout was amazing. I kept telling my husband she was my favorite tour guide ever. The Art Institute is a must if in Chicago, specially guided by Scout!

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a tour led by Robert from Chicago Museum Tours, and I am so glad I did. Robert introduced, and in some cases reintroduced, us to works of art that many of us have known for most of our lives. While some members of our team would not typically consider themselves enthusiasts of modern art, Robert's fresh perspective opened up entirely new ways of viewing and appreciating these pieces. His knowledge, storytelling, and ability to connect artistic styles, historical context, and individual works created an engaging and educational experience. The tour provided a deeper understanding of the Art Institute, the evolution of various art movements, and the significance of specific masterpieces throughout the museum. As the concierge at a local hotel, I highly recommend Chicago Museum Tours to anyone interested in learning more about the Art Institute, exploring different artistic styles, or gaining a richer, more in-depth appreciation of the museum's collection. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a longtime admirer of the Art Institute, Robert's expertise makes for an exceptional experience.

Mark Collins was an excellent private guide. While our focus was the impressionists he helped our group of 8 draw connections from Greek art through American Gothic. He readily answered questions and was a clear highlight of our trip to Chicago. Be sure to book him.

This was my husband and I's first time doing a guided tour of an art museum and we really enjoyed it! Our guide, Robert, was very engaging and informative, and he did a great job showing us around the museum's "greatest hits" and telling us about the context that informed each piece. The full tour ran about 2.5 hours and it flew by. We then got to spend some time wandering the museum ourselves afterwards, which was nice too. Overall we highly recommend it!

Scout was a phenomenal guide who was so knowledgeable about the art, its meaning and the artist. Her personality was delightful!! Highly recommend having her as your guide.

Brian was very knowledgeable !

Our tour of the Art Institute of Chicago was awesome. Joe (our guide) was so knowledgeable and he was eager to share it with us. It was a delightful way to get an "introduction" to the museum. There is so much to see ... we will come back and seek out Joe for another tour .. jean

Joel was a fabulous guide. I loved how he made the art come to life with stories about the artists and their relationships to each other.

Mark Collin’s was a fantastic guide. He has an incredible depth of knowledge built over a lifetime of studying and teaching art, and he’s an excellent artist himself. What we enjoyed most was his obvious passion for the subject. He’s personable, friendly, and just a really interesting guy to spend time with. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him, and he made it a great afternoon. I’d highly recommend Mark to anyone looking for a truly memorable tour.

Michelle was the most knowledgable and enthusiastic guide we have ever had- she made our visit extraordinary! We left with a much deeper and richer understanding and love for the art.

Great tour! Saw the best stuff and learned a ton! Tour took 2.5 hours

Very nice and informative guide. It was well paced. The guide was thoughtful and helpful ( we had a 85 year old with us) We enjoyed it and was worth the money.

Our guide, Scout, brought enthusiasm, expertise, and high energy to our tour. She was patient with those of us needing elevators and rest benches. I enjoyed her attention to artist composition and technique choices across periods. She provided a well considered progression across periods and key representative paintings. This was a memorable experience that will prompt further reading and learning for me. Thank you Scout!

Amazing experience! Our tour guide Mark had the best energy and was so knowledgeable and thoughtful. We had a great time!! I will say I was a little curious if I was going to enjoy it as it was my third time going to the museum (first two times were self guided) and I would 10/10 recommend going with a guide even if you already been before! It was my partners first time at the Art Institute and he was blown away with how much art and history we saw! Thanks again Mark!

Michelle was our guide and she was amazing. She took us on a walk that showed not on the history of art evolution, but how each generations of artists took the different styles and advance them through their own skills, vision and talent. I would tell everybody that the best way to see the Art Institute is with a tour guide.

Scout was great. Her knowledge of the art institute and the artwork it houses was impressive. She has a warm engaging personality.

We had an enjoyable, educational and fun experience. Time flew by as our wonderful, approachable and very professional guide Arnold led us through the museum. We saw the "highlights" that are among the most popular works of art, and learned so much. We arrived during a rainstorm. Arnold made sure everyone could check their wet umbrella and jackets before starting the tour.

The Art Institute has an incredible collection of paintings and see it on your own seems daunting. We were fortunate to have Brian as our guide; his vast knowledge was extremely helpful to understand various time periods in art history and how different painters influenced each other. You probably need a week to go through the whole museum, but the 2 hours we spent with Brian were well worth it!

We were so pleased with our tour with Joe at the Art Institute of Chicago. Those two hours were the highlight of our trip to Chicago. Joe was terrific! It was a mixed group – four adults of various ages, two teens, and an 11 year old. Joe connected with each one of us on our different levels and explained the works we saw both specifically and in the larger context of art history and Chicago. We learned a lot and were inspired by the art and awed by its beauty. We can’t thank Chicago Museum Tours (and Joe)enough, and we hope that we will be able to enjoy more of Chicago with Chicago Museum Tours on our next visit.

Mark our docent was amazing. Our tour through the centuries that tied culture, timelines, geography, history and art together brought tremendous depth to our tour experience! Highly recommended!

Michelle was an amazing guide. Very knowledgeable and wonderful personality in sharing her knowledge. I highly recommend Michelle and this tour

Great tout, Scout was an excellent tour guide, very knowledgeable and passionate about the museum.

Mark Collins was such a wonderful tour guide. He asked excellent questions, inspired great questions from us, and I feel like we had our own private tutor in addition to a tour guide (he has years of experience as an art teacher, art history teacher, and artist. I learned several new things about art and the artists and it made me want to book a similar experience in my hometown of San Francisco. He also worked closely with us to understand what we wanted to see and what our level of exercise effort was, etc. Thank you, Mark!

Our tour guide Michelle was amazing! She was organized, clear, flexible, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. We loved that she checked in with us to see how things were going and she was super smooth in making adjustments on the fly as needed. We learned so many things that we would never have known without Michelle! We were particularly impressed that she had so many wide ranging facts and details committed to memory. There was no question she couldn’t answer!This is the tour you want even if you’ve been to the AIC many times before. Highly recommend!

Scout is a fantastic tour guide - dynamic, knowledgeable, well organized in navigating the vast art museum. Was thrilled to have someone schooled in the arts (and passionate about it) leading the tour

The tour was disappointing and didn't give enough information of the art works we saw. I was expecting a much knowledgeable guide tour for an art museum.

We did this for a corporate event and had Michelle as our guide, it was fantastic! The information and background on the art was amazing and it truly made the visit special (even for those who aren’t super excited about visiting an art museum). Would highly recommend!

Bernie did a wonderful job of helping us experience the treasures at the Art Institute. It's a massive place and we would have been overwhelmed if we'd tried to go it on our own. He was generous with his time and very knowledgeable. We were there on a holiday weekend an early entry allowed us to see some of the sections of the museum before the crowds arrived.

This was my first guided tour at a museum. The tour moved quickly and highlighted certain art and artists throughout the museum. Scout was our guide and her enthusiastic and performative style kept the energy up throughout the long tour. Great for someone that likes and appreciates art but isn't going to do the homework yourself.

Thoroughly enjoyed this tour with our guide, Joel. He was so knowledgeable about the art, the Art Institute, and Chicago history. This was our first visit to Chicago and we spent several hours at the Art Institute on our own after the tour was completed. Highly recommend, and take Joel’s tour if you can! The French Impressionist collection is amazing. You won’t be sorry.

Joel was a great guide and made our tour extremely enjoyable.

Mark provided an excellent experience at the Art Institute. He was knowledgeable, fun and really brought the art to life from the Renaissance to Picasso. It is a wonderful museum and great tour. We enthusiastically recommend this tour.

Absolutely mind blowing🤯 What a beautiful building and amazing exhibits. A must! Need days and days to experience everything. Will definitely do it again ❤️

Colleen was our guide and she was great! Easily understood and knowledgable. The whole tour was pleasant! Thank you so much,

This is the second-largest museum in the United States, so the most advisable option is to take a guided tour. Arnold, our guide, contacted me the day before the visit to offer his assistance. His knowledge is invaluable, and he is an excellent communicator, which allows him to share his expertise in a highly engaging and effective way. At the end of the guided tour, he offered those of us who were interested a pass to re-enter the museum in case we wanted to go out for lunch afterward. And indeed, it was absolutely worth returning to see the miniature rooms created by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, a section where one can easily spend two hours without noticing the passage of time. And, of course, it's a must to revisit the Picassos and the Monets. Picasso’s The Old Guitarist says so much about its creator before he became famous that it is an essential stop, as is the iconic reference of American Gothic, which is not to be missed. Thank you very much, Arnold. Excellent tour!

My guide Mark provided a wonderful and easy paced tour through the museum from top to bottom. I learned a lot about art history and felt like I got a free college seminar. 10/10 recommend!

Our tour guide, Kim, gave our group insights not only into the art but also the technological and historical context of it. I loved the “big picture” approach. Wonderful tour!

My first, but hopefully not the last visit. I had one day to get an overall of the best and most of the Institute. I checked online and made an appointment for a semi-private tour and early entry. Arnold checked with me the day before and the day of to make sure I was on track to meet and spend the time. He was on time and very thoughtful as to what I wanted to see. There was one other very delightful person in our group. He was extremely knowledgeable and able to explain in terms I understood the history of the painting and artist. We were able to tour the highlights and then some of the museum. If my stamina would have lasted I could have easily spent the entire day there. I prided myself on lasting six hours - two with Arnold and four on my own. I did spend time on a coffee and snacks. Good decision on my part.

Arnold was such an engaging and knowledgeable art historian. He is amount the best I’ve encountered.

Macy was an exceptional tour guide. I have visited the Art Institute several time, but her insight gave me a new perspective on my favorite pieces. They were other pieces that she pointed out that I had never appreciated before her commentary. I would definitely go again.

What a great experience. This was the perfect way to see the Institute for first time visitors. Our guide, Scout, truly made the experience exceptional. She was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Five plus stars!

Joe was absolutely amazing! And he let us pick some of our own pictures!

The Art Institute Tour was amazing! The Chicago Museum Tours team was extremely professional, kind, and flexible to meet our team's needs, timing, and availability. Mark was a great tour guide providing great story telling, highlighting key art pieces, and skillfully guiding us through the museum. The CMT team also took care of our admissions, and provided all the logistical details we needed to be ready for an amazing experience. Our team will definitely plan another event with the Chicago Museum Tours team!

A wonderful experience. Our guide Michelle was great..... knowledgeable, friendly, energetic and a really nice person. I can't recommend them enough!

Our guide, Joel, did a fantastic job of combining beautiful art with the story behind them, making the paintings come alive. I highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting the Chicago Art Institute/Museum.

Mark was accommodating, knowledgeable, and kind. We had a group of 4. Thank you! We would gladly do another tour.