Friday, October 21, 2016

Art Museum Bucket List Part I - Off the Wall Friday

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Looking for Inspiration???  Plan a vacation around visiting one of the country's greatest art museums.  Here are some ideas to get ya going. . . . . Ohhh and more for next week!

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

What's not to love about visiting the Smithsonian?  I mean two huge big buildings of art
spanning from the Middle Ages to the Present.  Highlights include the only painting of Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas,  and works by Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Vermeer, Ingrès, Manet, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso are all included.  The best part is its FREE.  And the lunch Cafe is good too!!

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Fransisco, Ca 


  The oldest museum devoted to modern and contemporary art on the West Coast its collection includes extensive collection of twentieth-century art, ranging from Fauvism and Cubism to Pop Art, Minimalism, and Abstract Expressionism. Important artists represented include Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Louise Bourgeois, Constantin Brancusi, Jasper Johns, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Rauschenber.


Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

The Art Institute of Chicago was founded in 1879 as both a museum and a school for the arts. he comprehensive collection spans history, from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi to contemporary
photography. The Impressionist collection is especially extensive, with an entire room dedicated to Monet. They even have some great works by Hopper (Which it is why its on this girl's bucket list!)

Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY


The building itself is a work of art designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Its spiraling walkways show off an extensive permanent  collection which include paintings by Kandinsky, Klee, Chagall, Picasso, and Mapplethorpe.  Plus, its also known for bringing some great temporary exhibits.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Not only is this museum famous for the iconic Rocky Steps, but it also has a  collection that covers
all major periods and styles, with it's the modern collection that is especially notable, including the world’s largest collection of works by Marcel Duchamp, as well as some of Cy Twombly’s monumental abstract paintings.   It even has a full built Japanese Tea House!  This was my first art museum where I visited when I was 7.



This is only the beginning of my list - Have you Visited any of these?

So What Have Been Up to Creatively?


4 comments:

Turtlemoonimpressions said...

I've been to the first three and they're all wonderful!

Susan Lenz said...

Not to be picky ... but the National Gallery of Art isn't actually part of the Smithsonian. It's fabulous, of course ... and so are the many holdings of American Art found in the Smithsonian's collection a few blocks away. When in DC, I am often torn between the two ... but thankfully the Smithsonian's American Museum of Art and Portrait Gallery (two different collections within the same grand structure that once had been the US Patent Office) is open until 7:00 PM and nearer a Metro station. Thus, I hit the National Gallery of Art first and end with the Caitlin Indians, the presidential portraits, my favorite works by Ryder, Hopper, Ansel Adams, etc. before traveling back to whatever cheap hotel I've booked at the end of one of the Metro lines.

For an upcoming museum suggestion: SAM, the Seattle Art Museum. There's one room that is worth the entire price of admission. It features Do-Ho Shu's Some/One, 2001, an over-sized garment made of stainless steel military dog tags. It is in front of Anselm Kiefer's Die Welle (The Wave), 1990, made of lead, clothes, steel wire, and ash on canvas. Totally AWESOME!
Susan

Margaret said...

I'm Canadian...so...haven't visited those places. As a teenager I visited museums and galleries in New York city (1969)...and when I lived in Eastern Canada I visited the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/)...When I moved West I began to visit the Alberta Gallery of Art in Edmonton (http://www.youraga.ca/), and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary where once I saw "The Dinner Party" (Judy Chicago) and a quilt created by all Canadians...and art from Emily Carr...(http://www.glenbow.org/)...and to many small galleries and museums in between...

Oh, and then there's that trip in my twenties when I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and the Louvre (http://www.louvre.fr/en)...and the British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/)...

All are wonderful. I think the message is: seek out art wherever you are. Take notes. Be prepared to be inspired!

Run 'n Stitch said...

I hope to visit these museums one day.