It's wonderful to have favorites you can visit when you like. I grew up falling in love with Starry Night and Guernica at MOMA. Got to see them very very young.
You've captured what I think many children feel--the world of beauty and possibility found nowhere else. I loved going to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where there was only artwork and I could lose myself in all of it. I especially loved the harpsichords and the massive Chinese Buddha's.
I’ve felt the same way about the Met, Lev. Egyptian, Islamic, Greco Roman, Medieval / Renaissance, Modern - there’s so many faiths under one roof. Every wing, every exhibit communities some truth in way like nothing else I’ve experienced.
I grew up in Chicago and had the great fortune of having The Art Institute to visit often. A person can spend all day at an art museum and then return the next day to do it all over again. My husband and I spent a month in France last September and marveled at the wonders of the Louvre, however, I fell in love with the Van Gogh exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay. Got back to our B&B and began to read an exceptional bio of Van Gogh written by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. What a tortured soul Van Gogh was.
I love the Art Institute and have been going there since the 1980s--amazing collection and terrific exhibitions and just 4 hours by train (I gave up on driving because the traffic is insane). The first one we saw was a mind-blowing Sargent show that was gigantic. More recently, a Magritte exhibition, beautifully mounted.
Ah, but Paris! The Louvre, the Musée D'Orsay, The Cluny, The Rodin, The Picasso--just to start. One funny note: there was a Seurat exhibition there but the Art Institute didn't lend "La Grande Jatte" and we were thrilled that we had seen it in situ so many many times.
We had a funny thing happen to us at The Louvre. Well, not really funny. We were just leaving and a couple were just entering and the man was screaming at his wife "you get over here right now" along with other gems such as that like she was a puppy dog. It was ugly. Wrote a short story about it.
Wow. It's amazing how badly people can behave in museums abroad. Americans. I avoided them at the Louvre and at Versailles--too many of them were rude and loud. One guy actually sat down on the base of a Greek statue and was about to lean back against it before the guard stopped him. He was unapologetic: "There aren't any chairs."
Lovely description of the power of art.
I have a few favorite paintings I visit at the Met.
My favorite is Brueghel's Harvesters. The world it creates gives me a sense of peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harvesters_(painting)
It's wonderful to have favorites you can visit when you like. I grew up falling in love with Starry Night and Guernica at MOMA. Got to see them very very young.
You've captured what I think many children feel--the world of beauty and possibility found nowhere else. I loved going to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where there was only artwork and I could lose myself in all of it. I especially loved the harpsichords and the massive Chinese Buddha's.
Yes, that's it: the world of beauty and possibility.
I’ve felt the same way about the Met, Lev. Egyptian, Islamic, Greco Roman, Medieval / Renaissance, Modern - there’s so many faiths under one roof. Every wing, every exhibit communities some truth in way like nothing else I’ve experienced.
I loved to wander there. Usually I headed to the armor, then to the Greek & Roman statuary,
Oh my. This is heartrending. I am glad you had this source of inspiration and hope as a child and survived to remember it.
Thanks. I had lots of inspiration from my mother as well....
Beautiful, touching. View of city, museum and painting with a flash moment of family adding to the whole picture.
I grew up in Chicago and had the great fortune of having The Art Institute to visit often. A person can spend all day at an art museum and then return the next day to do it all over again. My husband and I spent a month in France last September and marveled at the wonders of the Louvre, however, I fell in love with the Van Gogh exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay. Got back to our B&B and began to read an exceptional bio of Van Gogh written by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. What a tortured soul Van Gogh was.
I love the Art Institute and have been going there since the 1980s--amazing collection and terrific exhibitions and just 4 hours by train (I gave up on driving because the traffic is insane). The first one we saw was a mind-blowing Sargent show that was gigantic. More recently, a Magritte exhibition, beautifully mounted.
Ah, but Paris! The Louvre, the Musée D'Orsay, The Cluny, The Rodin, The Picasso--just to start. One funny note: there was a Seurat exhibition there but the Art Institute didn't lend "La Grande Jatte" and we were thrilled that we had seen it in situ so many many times.
We had a funny thing happen to us at The Louvre. Well, not really funny. We were just leaving and a couple were just entering and the man was screaming at his wife "you get over here right now" along with other gems such as that like she was a puppy dog. It was ugly. Wrote a short story about it.
Wow. It's amazing how badly people can behave in museums abroad. Americans. I avoided them at the Louvre and at Versailles--too many of them were rude and loud. One guy actually sat down on the base of a Greek statue and was about to lean back against it before the guard stopped him. He was unapologetic: "There aren't any chairs."