The Art Institute of Chicago is giving fall visitors a luminous reason to head to Grant Park. Jill Mulleady: The Passenger, on view September 19, 2026 through January 18, 2027, is the artist’s first solo exhibition at a major museum, gathering roughly 20 paintings made over the last five years — many of them never shown before.
Born in Montevideo and raised in Buenos Aires, Mulleady pours art history, cinema, and literature into haunting, enigmatic scenes that invite viewers to get lost rather than hand them tidy answers. She paints on canvas, glass, and even velvet, building fragile, glowing surfaces that play with transparency and light. Up close, her pictures shimmer; from a few steps back, they pull you into dreamlike worlds full of quiet mystery.
It is one of the standout exhibitions of Chicago’s fall museum season and a perfect excuse to rediscover the Art Institute’s contemporary galleries — right on Michigan Avenue, an easy stop on any downtown day. Plan your visit at artic.edu.
Photo: Artwork by Jill Mulleady; image via arting.art
