After Escobar's death and the fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the rival Cali Cartel rose to power.
On October 28, 2006, Escobar's body was exhumed by request of his nephew Nicolás Escobar. This was two days after the death of mother Hermilda Gaviria, who opposed the exhumation. Nicolás Escobar wanted to verify that the body in the tomb was in fact that of Escobar. Escobar's nephew also collect DNA for a paternity test claim. According to the report by the "El Tiempo" newspaper, Escobar's widow Maria Victoria was present recording the exhumation with a video camera.
On July 4, 2006, Virginia Vallejo, the television news speaker offered information in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio to the Colombian Attorney General Mario Iguaran. Vallejo was romantically involved with Escobar between 1983 and 1987. The Senator was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 murder of Presidential Candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Iguaran said that, although Vallejo contacted his office on the 4th, the judge had decided to close the trial on the 9th. This was several weeks before the prospective closing date and, in (Iguaran's) opinion, "too soon".
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) is an art museum in Grant Park, Chicago. The Art Institute owns one of the world's best collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. It also owns important American art, Old Masters, European and American decorative arts, Asian art and modern and contemporary art. The museum is linked with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. James Cuno is its Director and President. Its buildings have one million square feet (92,903,040 m) of space. It is the second largest art museum in the United States. Only the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has more space.
In 1866, a group of 35 artists founded the Chicago Academy of Design in a studio on Dearborn Street. The group wanted to run a free school with its own art gallery. The organization was modeled after European art academies, such as the Royal Academy. People who worked there were called Academians and Associate Academians. The Academy's charter was granted in March 1867.
Classes started in 1868. Classes met every day. Students paid the school US$10 per month. The new Academy was a success. The school next built a five story stone building at 66 West Adams Street, which opened on November 22, 1870.
When the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the building in 1871, the Academy began to owe a lot of money. The Academy tried and failed by renting facilities. By 1878, the Academy owed $10,000. Members tried to rescue the weak institution by making deals with local businesses. Some people gave up in 1879 and started a new new organization, named the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. When the Chicago Academy of Design went bankrupt the same year, the new Chicago Academy of Fine Arts bought its assets in an auction.
In 1882, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts changed its name to the current name, Art Institute of Chicago. The same year, it purchased a lot on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street for $45,000. The school rented the property's existing building, and a new building was constructed behind it to house the school's facilities.
While Chicago planned how to host the 1892–93 World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair), the Art Institute wanted a new building. The Art Institute proposed that the city build a permanent building on the lakefront for the fair and give the new building to the Institute afterwards. The city agreed, and the building was completed in time for the second year of the fair. Construction costs were paid by selling the Michigan/Van Buren property. On October 31, 1893, the Institute moved into the new building. This building is now called the Allerton Building. It faces Michigan Avenue on the west and the Illinois Central Railroad track on the east.
From the 1900s to the 1960s, the school offered with the Logan Family (members of the board) the Logan Medal of the Arts. The Logan Medal became one of the most distinguished awards presented to artists in the US. In 1924, the museum building expanded to the east by bridging over the railroad tracks with a new wing on the east side of the tracks.
Between 1959 and 1970, some people did not think that photos (art and documentary photography) were serious art that should be shown in art galleries. The Institute fought to change people's minds to accept such photos. Photo curator Hugh Edwards lead this fight.
As Director of the museum starting in the early 1980s, James N. Wood conducted a major expansion of its collection and oversaw a major renovation and expansion project for its facilities. "The New York Times" called Wood "one of the most respected museum leaders in the country". Wood created major exhibitions of works by Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh that set records for attendance at the museum. He retired from the museum in 2004.
In 2006, the Art Institute began building its new "The Modern Wing". The new wing is on the southwest corner of Columbus and Monroe. Pritzker Prize winning architect Renzo Piano designed the new wing. It opened to the public on May 16, 2009. The building makes the Art Institute the second largest art museum in the United States. The building houses the museum’s world-renowned collections of 20th- and 21st-century art, specifically modern European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture and design, and photography.
The collection of the Art Institute of Chicago covers more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world. The museum owns more than 260,000 works of art. The art institute holds works of art ranging from as early as the Japanese prints to the most updated American art.
Today, the museum is most famous for its collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and American paintings. There are more than 30 paintings by Claude Monet in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection. These include six of Monet's "Haystacks" and a number of his "Water Lilies". Also in the collection are important works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir such as "Two Sisters (On the Terrace)" and Henri Matisse's "The Bathers", Paul Cézanne's "The Basket of Apples", and "Madame Cézanne in a Yellow Chair." "At the Moulin Rouge" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is another highlight, as are Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" and Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street; Rainy Day". Non-French paintings of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection include Vincent Van Gogh's "Bedroom in Arles" and "Self-portrait, 1887". The museum also has American art works including Grant Wood's "American Gothic," Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" and Mary Cassatt's "The Child's Bath." In September 2010, the Art Institute launched its first mobile application. This application is a catalogue (guide) to this Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection.
The Art Institute also shows a number of works that are not paintings. The Thorne Miniature Rooms hold 1:12 scale interiors showcasing American, European and Asian architectural and furniture styles from the Middle Ages to the 1930s (when the rooms were constructed).
The Touch Gallery of the museum is specially designed for people who cannot see. It has several works which museum guests are encouraged to experience though the sense of touch instead of through sight as well as specially designed description plates written in braille. The American Decorative Arts galleries contain furniture pieces designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles and Ray Eames. The Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman galleries hold the mummy and mummy case of Paankhenamun, as well as several gold and silver coins.