Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look at “The Art of Ferris Bueller,” you could miss it.
On Nov. 22, Kelli Marshall will take guests through the Art Institute of Chicago and host a walking tour titled “The Art of Ferris Bueller” that looks at the same artworks as Ferris and his friends in the 1986 teen comedy, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
Marshall, owner of Chicago Movie Tours, will go through three floors while showing off over a dozen art pieces that were featured in the film, including artworks like “America Windows,” Marc Chagall’s stained glass panels where Ferris and his girlfriend Sloane share a kiss, and “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat, a staple in the museum.
Ferris’s friend Cameron gazes at the piece and Marshall will give insight as to why that choice was made in the film.
“Portrait of Balzac,” created in the late 1800s, is a statue by Auguste Rodin that Bueller and his friends mimic.
Despite the scenes in the museum only taking about two minutes of screentime, Marshall will take 90 minutes to explain the art pieces, their connections to the film and some behind-the-scenes knowledge.
“In this instance, you’re discovering Chicago through a very specific part of a very specific film,” Marshall said. “So I hope that once they leave the tour, they’ve learned something or discovered something new, not only about Chicago and perhaps its art scene and its art scene as it looked in 1985, when they filmed this year, but also, hopefully they discover something new about ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ that they did not know before they joined my tour.”
In addition to Marshall’s tour, the Art Institute offers its own self-guided walking tour “Be Like Ferris Bueller,” beginning with Edward Kemeys’ bronze lions out front on Michigan Avenue (more information at www.artic.edu). According to that tour, “One look at the lions and we knew where Ferris and friends were headed.”
“The Art of Ferris Bueller” runs 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 22, Dec. 20 and 28, as well as dates in January. They start in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; tickets ($39.99, plus museum admission) and more information at www.chicagomovietours.com