Cloud Gate, on Chicago’s AT&T Plaza, 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 the city’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.

                          Taken hand-held during the bewitching hour, September 2006.

Cloud Gate taken from the concave chamber beneath the sculpture looking across AT&T Plaza toward the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

From the sides, Cloud Gate resembles a giant bean. In fact, many people refer to it as the “Millennium Park Bean.” It is one of Chicago’s most photographed sculptures due to the interesting effects visitors achieve when photographing themselves in its reflection.

An unusual perspective, straight up into the concave chamber beneath the sculpture. If you look very closely, you can just make me out taking the image.