Why you should experience Cloud Gate (The Bean) in Chicago.
In the heart of Millennium Park, where the skyline meets the sky itself, stands Cloud Gate, affectionately known as The Bean, a sculpture so simple in form yet so profound in presence that it has become the modern soul of Chicago.
Designed by British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor and unveiled in 2006, Cloud Gate captures the city’s essence in its seamless, liquid-steel surface. At first glance, it’s a mirror, but as you step closer, it transforms. The skyline bends and twists around you, the clouds slide across its curve, and suddenly you’re no longer just looking at Chicago, you’re inside it. The sculpture’s highly polished, stainless-steel skin reflects everything: the people beneath it, the lake behind it, the towers above it, even the shifting moods of the weather. No two moments here ever look the same. Whether it’s sunrise gilding its surface in gold or a midnight reflection shimmering beneath city lights, Cloud Gate reshapes itself endlessly, like Chicago’s spirit, reflective, resilient, and alive.
What you didn’t know about Cloud Gate.
Despite its effortless beauty, Cloud Gate’s creation was anything but simple.
When Anish Kapoor first proposed the concept, a monumental drop of liquid mercury, frozen mid-flow, engineers doubted it could even be built. The sculpture consists of 168 massive stainless-steel plates welded together with invisible seams so smooth they seem to vanish into infinity. Each piece had to be shaped with millimeter precision, then hand-polished to achieve the mirror-like perfection we see today. Hidden inside is an intricate support structure that allows the exterior to flex with temperature changes, preventing cracks or distortions despite Chicago’s famously extreme weather. The name “Cloud Gate” comes from the elliptical arch at its center, a portal through which the sky, the skyline, and every visitor seem to merge. It was intended to evoke both transcendence and play, a piece of public art that would invite interaction rather than distance. And interact people do: over a million visitors touch, photograph, and gather beneath it each year, making it one of the most photographed works of art on Earth. Few realize, though, that Kapoor’s vision was originally controversial. During construction, skeptics called it “The Bean” as a joke, dismissing its abstract shape. But when it was finally unveiled, the nickname stuck, and what was once ridicule became affection. The Bean became Chicago’s icon not through grandeur, but through intimacy. It reflects not just the skyline but the people who animate it, turning each visitor into part of the sculpture itself. In that way, it’s both deeply personal and profoundly collective, a mirror that shows Chicago exactly as it is: proud, imperfect, and endlessly reflective.
How to fold Cloud Gate into your trip.
The best way to experience Cloud Gate is to treat it not as an object, but as an encounter.
Arrive early in the morning if you can, when the crowds are thin and the city is still waking. Walk up quietly and watch the sun rise over Lake Michigan, the light curling across the sculpture’s flawless surface. Stand directly beneath the central arch, the “gate”, and look up. The reflections twist into infinity, creating a kaleidoscopic swirl of faces and sky that feels almost otherworldly. From there, step back to take in the full view of its bean-like silhouette framed by the towers of Michigan Avenue. Visit again at midday, when the city hums with energy and the mirrored surface shimmers with life, joggers, street musicians, office workers on lunch breaks, all folding into the same reflection. If you stay until nightfall, you’ll see why Cloud Gate has become a symbol not just of Chicago’s architecture, but its humanity. Under the glow of streetlights and the faint shimmer of stars, it becomes softer, quieter, the mirror now a moon. From here, stroll through Millennium Park’s gardens, catch a concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion nearby, or walk east toward the lakefront to see the skyline reflected once more, this time on the water. No matter when you go, Cloud Gate gives you something different each time, not just a view, but a feeling: that you belong in this living reflection, part of something vast, bright, and infinitely Chicago.
Hear it from the Foresyte community.
“Whole skyline bends around you like a funhouse mirror and you’re just stuck staring. It feels trippy and calming at the same time.”
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