"The Song of the Lark" was one of the first paintings to enter the Art Institute's collection when we opened our doors in 1893. It quickly became one of the most popular paintings at the museum. And by the 1920s, reproductions of "The Song of the Lark" were found hanging on classroom walls across the United States. By 1934, it was named “America’s Best Loved Picture”—in a contest sponsored by the Chicago Daily News—and unveiled in a ceremony at the museum by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. See "Song of the Lark" (1884) by Jules Breton on view in Gallery 222.