Curious City - Picture This: Did The Art Institute of Chicago Ever Rent Out Paintings?

Robert K. Elder would love to decorate the walls in his living room with original paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago. So he was floored when a friend told him that her mom rented two pieces of artwork back in the day. This was hard for Robert to imagine. Like, what would that even look like? Someone strolling onto Michigan Avenue with a rented Monet stuck in his or her backpack? Curious City looked into whether this story has any truth to it. 



Curious City - Picture This: Did The Art Institute of Chicago Ever Rent Out Paintings?

Robert K. Elder would love to decorate the walls in his living room with original paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago. So he was floored when a friend told him that her mom rented two pieces of artwork back in the day. This was hard for Robert to imagine. Like, what would that even look like? Someone strolling onto Michigan Avenue with a rented Monet stuck in his or her backpack? Curious City looked into whether this story has any truth to it. 



the memory palace - Episode 123: Outliers

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows.

Music

  • We hear Valentine My Funny by Nils Frahm and F.S. Blumm from the album Tag Eins Tag Zwei.

Notes

  • This idea came to me a long time ago while researching an old episode. I read an extraordinary article from the 1890s that hung with me, particularly the notion of folks writing in to try to become sideshow attractions.