March 27, 2010
“One time I went to a museum where all the work in the museum had been done by children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.” Stephen Wright
When my siblings and I were kids, I remember going to dozens and dozens of museums. (I’m sure my memory is exaggerating here, but it is telling me hundreds and hundreds and I already downgraded it to a more realistic estimate.) On vacation, museums were a destination rather than a rest stop. I must confess that I complained a lot. I hated the museums; I thought they were boring. We would wander from room to room and I would cast a quick glance around to acknowledge the room’s contents, and then would think about how tired my legs were and ask how much longer we had to be there. Maybe that explains my love for benches. I remember wishing there were more benches in museums. For sleeping. I could not understand how people could (or would want to) spend hours and hours poring over brush strokes and color palettes and raving about artistic genius… that oftentimes looked to me like the same genius as the guy that does the chalk art at the park or even the blue ribbon award-winners at the elementary school art show.
As the years passed, my tolerance level for museums has grown, along with my appreciation for history and art. I have found that for me, the backstory is key. I like to know what led up to the moment in which something was painted or drawn or sculpted… What was the artist’s life experience and background? What was his or her motivation or inspiration? What is it about a particular piece of art that makes it notable or brilliant? For the record, I am still not a huge devotee of museums but I do visit them on occasion. My parents don’t drag me to them anymore; now my children do…
And so we found ourselves at the Albertina museum in Vienna, which was formerly the grand residence of one of the Habsburg daughters (Maria Christina – the “favorite”) and her husband. We wandered from room to room and I read nearly every art title and explanation. Although we enjoyed the imperial apartment wing (which showcased former Habsburg staterooms), our collective favorite of the exhibitions was the permanent exhibit showcasing 130 years of art history, with original paintings from noted artists Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, Matisse, Miró, Klee, Chagall, Picasso and other masters. As a volunteer art docent for the Meet the Masters program at my kids’ elementary school for the last couple of years, I have studied most of these artists with them. It was fun for all of us to see some of their original works in person and reflect on the things we knew about their lives and their art. Here are some of our favorites from the day:
Those are great paintings! I move through museums at a snails pace and would make you crazy. I laughed aloud with the comments on benches. Can you imagine trying to clean those imperial living spaces? Makes my back ache to think of it.
ReplyDeleteI have the same childhood memories of dozens and dozens of museums...and I too have changed over the years. Less benches required. ( : I am jealous of all the amazing museums and all the art you're getting to see, although I can't say that my children are at the age where they'd stay still enough that I could ever dream of reading all (or quite possibly any) of the art explainations, let alone the titles. Now THAT sounds dreamy. ( : Enjoy some more for me. I do love walking through people's former living spaces too - it has a way of making me imagine what life must've been like.
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