Three Vinegar Tasters, Mizuno Rocho, 19th Century

For the first time in the United States, the Art Institute of Chicago features a comprehensive collection of ukiyo-e paintings to bring the “floating world” and its metropolitan amusements to life. The collection assembled by Roger Weston over the last 25 years consists of outstanding ukiyo-e masterpieces mainly focused on images of beauties (bijinga) by famed artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Hishikawa Moronobu.

This special exhibition, Painting the Floating World, features over 150 works from the 17th through the 19th century. Each painting offers an exquisite glimpse of the past; as a whole the exceptional collection reveals ukiyo-e’s rich connection to trends in fashion, beauty, and cultural life over centuries.

Exhibitions are free with museum admission.