Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017:
Washington
A Day for Art and Artists
The day dawned white, quiet and
still—the sort of morning that accompanies dire news of an impending snowstorm.
With dread, I raised the blinds up in our room to survey the outside and found,
to my deepest shock, that we had a mere sprinkle! What an anti-climax! Indeed,
the area had no more than two inches in the worst-affected parts. It was not at
all what we’d expected. Over breakfast of hot cereal and buttered toast with
coffee, we decided to go ahead with our plans. Schools in the area were shut,
many government offices would stay closed but public transportation was
available and go we would.
Off to the
National Gallery of Art:
Our plan for the day was to explore
the National Gallery of Art, one of the world’s premier collections and one we
have had the pleasures of perusal on multiple occasions. Still, it is always a
joy to say Hello to old favorites and it was with enthusiasm that we took to the
Metro after Corinne dropped us off to the station. We bought ourselves
SmartTickets (which look like London’s Oyster Cards) and with Top Up As You Go
options, we filled ten dollars in each of our cards and were off and away.
Metro service was pretty sporadic as the snow had scared personnel away—they
were, therefore, running a skeletal service which made it a bit uncomfortable
as we had to wait a long time for our train on a freezing platform with no
winter shelters. But finally, we were aboard and heading into the capital,
getting off at the station and making our way to the museum.
Exploring the
Collection at the National Gallery of Art:
The capital’s collection is so huge
that it is contained in two buildings: the West Building is the older,
marble-clad one that contains works from the Renaissance to the 19th
century. The East Building, the newer one, designed by the Chinese-American
architect I.M. Pei, contains Modern Art from the 19th century to
contemporary times. We decided to arm ourselves with audio guides which we
obtained from the visually-stunning central hall or Rotunda. This is focused
around a sculpture of Hermes (Mercury) that was completely surrounded by spring
blooms: azaleas in the softest tones of pink, peach and mauve were amassed
around the fountain and it was inevitable that we would pause there to take
pictures.
Our exploration of the collection
began with the Portrait called Ginevra de
Benci—a 15th century Florentine aristocrat whose face (probably
an engagement portrait) was painted in oil on wood by Leonardo da Vinci—it is
the only Da Vinci work in North America. The back of the panel is equally
interesting as it features the family crest with significant motifs. Using our audio guide, we walked ourselves
around the work and then paused to take in the other significant Renaissance
works in the same or nearby galleries: works by Sandro Botticelli, Fra Lippo
Lippi, etc. For the next three hours, we lost ourselves in the wealth of
magnificent art as the museum filled with more patrons. Among the many
canvasses we saw, here are a few:
1.
Madonna by Giotto
2.
Wonderful
busts and wreaths from Lucia della Robbia on whom there was a special exhibit.
3.
The Alba Madonna by Raphael
4.
St. George
Killing the Dragon
by Raphael
5.
Portrait of
Saskia
by Rembrandt
6.
The Old Man by Rembrandt
7.
Lady with a Red
Hat
by Vermeer
8.
Delft Courtyard by Pieter de
Hooch (my favorite Flemish painter)
9.
Self Portrait by Rembrandt
10. The Mill by Rembrandt
11. Daniel in the Lion’s Den by Peter Paul
Rubens (the most arresting of the lot)
12. A Woman and Child by Renoir
Feeling quite peckish by 1.00 pm, we
stopped and walked along the psychedelic lit walkway towards the East Building
to get to the Museum café for lunch. In a cafetaria style setting, we chose the
NPG Burger which consisted of a patty with grilled onions, blue cheese and
other fixings. We also picked up sweet potato fries and a soda and found
ourselves a comfortable table where, surrounded by printed art works from the
collection and the company of a few souls who had braved the elements to
appreciate art, we had a substantial lunch.
After lunch, we set off towards the
East Building, pausing to appreciate the genius of Pei who has created a
building that has distinct similarities to the Louvre, not just in the creation
of the glass triangles but also in the wide open spaces that form the café and
the gift shop. Here are the items we paused to appreciate in the Modern
collection:
1.
The Couple by Gustav Klimt
2.
The
massive Mobile by Alexander Calder in
the main lobby
3.
Harlequin Family
by Picasso
(the first important group portrait of the 20th century)
4.
The Artist’s
Garden in Vetheuil
by Claude Monet
5.
The Japanese
Bridge in his Garden in Giverny by Monet
6.
Portrait of a
Little Girl
by Renoir
7.
Madame Monet
with a Parasol (and her Daughter) by Monet
8.
Children on a
Beach
by Mary Cassat
9.
Portrait of a
Man
by Cezanne
10. Still Life with Oranges by Cezanne
11. Self Portrait by Van Gogh
12. Roses by Van Gogh
13. Dancers at the Bar by Degas
14. A Mound of Butter with Eggs by Vollot
15. At the Moulin Rouge by
Toulouse-Lautrec
16. Views of Rouen Cathedral by Monet
17. Reclining Gypsy by Cezanne
18. On the River Stour by Constable
Of course, there were hundreds of paintings
that we saw and at which we paused, based on the Director’s Tour that was part
of our exploration with our audio guide. But by 4.00pm, we were physically
exhausted and ready to call a halt. We had seen the best that the museum had to
offer and felt deeply edified by the experience. It was time to go out and
enjoy a quiet evening in another venue.
We took the metro back to Lorton,
Corinne met us as the station and drove us home and after a quick cup of tea
and a nibble at her place, we said our goodbyes and thank-yous and made the
drive to Silver Spring, Maryland, as we would be spending the next two nights
at the home of my cousin Laura’s daughter, Heather, her husband Chrys and their
little boy, Jeremy. The drive took about 45 minutes. All highways had been
cleared and since many people had stayed at home, traffic was rather light.
We arrived at Heather’s place and had a
lovely reunion with her and her family. She lives in a large apartment complex
in a two-bedroom apartment but is in the midst of a move as she has just bought
a home and will be leaving it shortly. Heather plied us with wine and nibbles
and then served us a home-cooked dinner of roast pork which was very comforting
on the cold evening. We also made the acquaintance of her next door neighbor
Maria who is a work colleague and who was interesting company. Soon Maria’s son
and daughter joined us too—making for a very companionable evening overall.
It was not long before we said goodnight
and took a well-deserved rest.
Until tomorrow, see ya...
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