Chicago: On tour with Tate

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Quote: One of several cultural events planned during my five-day trip, the visit to the Stokols was organised by Richard Hamilton, director of American Patrons of Tate, a charity. "The Tate can open doors," he tells me. "It's amazing to see art in someone's home – it feels vibrant, very alive. This is unusual in that it's a very energetic collection."

Quote: Visiting the Stokols was a highlight of my trip to the Windy City. "Unforgettable" was the response from several members of the group I joined.

Quote: Chicago is renowned for its bravura skyline, and much of the tour involved looking at landmark buildings. We were led by Bill Hinchliff, an enthusiastic Yale-educated architectural historian. "Chicago is the world's greatest museum of the skyscraper," he told us right away. "No other city has the quality or variety where you can see so many different styles within three blocks – not even New York."

Quote: Nearby is the Frank Gehry-designed outdoor music pavilion, where we attended a free public concert one evening. Sirens inevitably intruded upon the performance of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony – yet the stainless-steel forms of Gehry's rampant design, which billows into the park like the visualisation of musical notes, compensate for any auditory loss. 

Quote: The day after the concert, I visited Chicago's impressive Art Institute to see a retrospective of the American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein that will travel to Tate Modern next February. Tate Travels had organised a private tour with the show's curator, James Rondeau. "There is always a degree of levity about Lichtenstein's choice of subject matter, but he was extraordinarily serious about painting," Rondeau said in front of Look Mickey, the artist's first comic-book painting from 1961.

To see a full list of Tate Travels escorted tours please click here.