You made it. You're looking at Cloud Gate — and yes, we're going to call it The Bean, because that's what it is and that's what everyone calls it and there's nothing Anish Kapoor can do about it.
Anish Kapoor is the British-Indian sculptor who designed this thing, and he has spent 20 years being upset that Chicago nicknamed his masterwork after a legume. He designed it to reflect the Chicago skyline and the clouds overhead — hence "Cloud Gate." It's 33 feet tall, weighs 110 tons, and is made of 168 stainless steel plates polished so smoothly you can't see the seams.
It's also objectively bean-shaped. We all see it. He knows we all see it.
Here's the thing about Kapoor — he's a world-renowned artist AND kind of a villain in the art world. In 2016, he obtained exclusive rights to Vantablack — the blackest pigment ever created, which absorbs 99.96% of light. He made it so no other artist could use it in their work. The art world lost its mind.
In response, artist Stuart Semple created
"the pinkest pink" pigment and sold it to everyone — with one condition — you had to confirm you were not Anish Kapoor and had no intention of giving the pigment to Anish Kapoor. Someone sent Kapoor a sample anyway. He posted a photo of his middle finger dipped in the pink pigment. That's real. That happened.
Kapoor also tried to restrict photography of The Bean in its early years, claiming copy
