Cloud Gate aka "The Bean"
Millennium Park
Chicago IL
2020

Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States.

The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Avenue to the west, Columbus Drive to the east, Randolph Street to the north and Monroe Street to the south.


Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of Grainger Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its shape, a name Kapoor later grew fond of.

The Bean is a work of public art in the heart of Chicago. The sculpture, which is officially titled Cloud Gate, is one of the world’s largest permanent outdoor art installations. The monumental work was unveiled in 2004 and quickly became of the Chicago’s most iconic sights.

The Bean is located in Millennium Park, the lakefront park in Chicago’s downtown Loop. It sits above the McCormick Tribune Plaza, where you’ll find alfresco dining in the summer and a free skating rink in winter. If you’re walking on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe, you really can’t miss it.

The Bean’s reflective surface was inspired by liquid mercury. This shiny exterior reflects the people moving around the park, the lights of Michigan Avenue, and the surrounding skyline and green space — perfectly encapsulating the Millennium Park experience. The polished surface also invites visitors to touch the surface and observe their own reflection, giving it an interactive quality.
The reflection of the sky above the park, not to mention the curved underside of The Bean serves as an entrance that visitors can walk under to enter the park, inspired the sculpture’s creator to name the piece Cloud Gate.