Water Tower Place gallery exhibits artwork of Dr. Seuss creator

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Cat in the Hat. The Grinch. Green Eggs and Ham. They are all the creation of Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss, who has recently moved onto Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

It has just opened on the second floor of Water Tower Place. A new gallery called the Art of Dr. Seuss, with emphasis on the word "art." You don't find those wonderful, clever, rhyming stories that transfixed you and your kids. This is an exhibit that Theodor Geisel probably never imagined would happen. No words, just his images.

"This gallery is dedicated to the art and life of Theodor Seuss Geisel, and here you'll find artworks representing his entire career starting in the 1930's all the way to the end of his life in 1990," said Bill Dreyer, curator of the Art of Dr. Seuss.

When Ted Geisol, political cartoonist, became Dr. Seuss back in 1937 he changed the way we read to our children and the way children learn to read. And the way he did all seemed so simple. Simple words, simple artwork.

"The truth is Ted Geisel worked very hard to make it look simple, a very small group of words that he reworked over and over. A very small palette he reworked until it was perfect," said Gene DiFillipo, Director of the Art of Dr. Seuss.

Perfectly simple and perfectly fun. Crazy creatures created to delight. And apparently when the Cat in the Hat and others were born Ted Geisel was looking in the mirror.

"The famous Grinch. Who was the Grinch? Well Mrs. Audrey Geisel said that on his good days Dr. Seuss was the Cat in the Hat. But on his bad days he was the Grinch," Dreyer said.

Dr. Seuss has sold 600 million books, but you can't buy a book here. It's all about the art. The goofy stuff, and the fine stuff.

"The whole time he was creating children's books, at night, what he loved to do was paint," said Dreyer. "And so Seuss painted through his entire life and these art works of a vivid imagination finally are now coming into the public through galleries like this."

These, of course, are not the originals, they're prints. But they range in price from a few hundred dollars up to several thousand.