Diamond Jubilee: Quadracci Pavlion, Milwaukee Art Museum

July 2021

I am a huge Calatrava fan, by accident. I saw two of his major works before becoming familiar with him - the first was the airport in Bilbao and the next, the railway station in Liège, Belgium. At that point I looked him up online and learned more about his work. Later, I was duly impressed with his buildings in Valencia's City of Science. What I had overlooked was that his first project in the USA was the art museum in Milwaukee.

I walked from the hotel to the lake through a nice neighborhood and exited into Juneau Park to get my first view of the museum. It was instantly recognizable as a Calatrava (and bears some resemblance to his later Oculus in New York City). I walked around the building taking photos from different angles. Calatrava's buildings are meant to be viewed from a variety of perspectives - that's why I liked them. It was, unfortunately, closed due to COVID so I never got to see the interior.

Lake Michigan was slate gray under overcast skies. At least it wasn't raining like it had in Chicago.

I returned via a different street to the RiverWalk. Milwaukee continued to impress me.

It was time for lunch