Monday, June 8, 2009

Turner to Cezanne

On Saturday, DF Connie and I went to the Turner to Cezanne exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art. There were a bunch of people there (this was the last weekend) and we went fairly early. As we were touring through the galleries, we marveled at the beautiful paintings by some of the more famous names dealing with Impressionist art like Renoir, Monet, Corot, etc. I'm not the type of artsy fartsy person to discuss line, the use of shadow, what the deeper meaning of a painting is, I'm the type that will stare at a painting that captures my attention or speaks to me in some way. On our first tour through, we came across the painting call La Parisienne by Renoir.

In front of this HUGE painting is a little girl sitting on the floor. She looked to be about 4-5 years old and she had her paper and markers out and was drawing the painting. Connie and I stood and watched her for a few minutes and then moved on. I thought to myself, how wonderful that this little girl is being exposed to work by the masters at such an early age, and that she loves this painting so much that she feels the need to reproduce it. What a cool thing it would be if she grew up to be an artist and her first memory was of sitting on the floor at the museum, looking up at this woman in a brilliant blue dress.



A painting that really spoke to me was Eugene Carriere's Maternity (Suffering). This picture doesn't really do the actual painting justice. I don't know what it is about this picture, but I love it. Maybe because I'm a mom. The Monets that were there were, of course, beautiful. They had one waterlilies painting and then Connie's favorite Palazzo Dario. What a beautiful painting. I am amazed that people can paint these beautiful pictures that say so much without speaking a word. What they can convey with just a brushstroke or tilt of the head is something that I think is fascinating.

So, if you saw the exhibit, tell me what your favorite painting was. If you get to see it, take some and go, it's well worth it. I wish that I had been able to take Kiersten and Jared, just to get some culture, but didn't happen. I am glad however, that I was able to see it and spend some time with a good friend.

Peace and love y'all!

3 comments:

House of Squitty said...

I'm so jealous! We really wanted to go but never made it.

Connie said...

It was a pleasure to spend the morning with you. Glad you mentioned it.

Jayne said...

I can't believe I let the months slide by without seeing this.