Art Museums, Other Worlds

The most wonderful aspect of living in Washington DC is the easy access to its world-class museums and monuments, most of them free of charge. I never tire of repeatedly visiting all the Smithsonian museums and it is a special reward to frequently discover new exhibits, temporary and permanent. I have made several excursions to the Natural History and Holocaust museums, been awestruck at the National Air and Space museum and browsed the fascinating Newseum. I remain in queue for the newly opened National Museum of African American History & Culture. However, it is DC’s several art museums that truly transport me!

Gaps between business appointments will generally see me change into walking shoes and head to the National Portrait Gallery, to become immersed in the fascinating stories of the notable personalities that shaped America - leaders, rebels, artists, entrepreneurs, entertainers. This past week provided the welcome opportunity for two visits to the National Gallery of Art, and they weren’t nearly enough! I will be back, having seen only a very small fraction of all that is on offer in the numerous galleries across the beautifully laid out and older West Wing; and the spaciously modern and newer East Wing.

I have been so moved by all the breathtakingly beautiful creations - paintings, sculptures, tapestries, carvings, photographs - and so greatly impressed by how these museums have been thoughtfully and lovingly curated. It is a stroke of genius to place an old master alongside a modern one; to allow the viewer to experience both the contrasts and the parallels, as he imagines the varying worlds the artists inhabited and the different experiences that shaped their techniques. I am also deeply touched by the generosity and benevolence of all the art donors, who have made it possible for viewers like me to gaze upon masterpieces that we could only have read about or seen in picture books…

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