I'm sure that I went to the gallery at some point in my life on a field trip as a pre-teen that I had no appreciation for at the time, so it was nice for me to spend some time appreciating all of the beautiful artwork, sculpture, and even furniture that the National Gallery of Art has on display...OK, maybe not so much the furniture...
Walking to the gallery from the Smithsonian metro stop, we snapped a few quick pictures of the Washington Monument and the Capital Building, which I initially called the White House. Mm hmm.
If you have never been to the National Gallery of Art, I can describe it to you in one word: quiet. Seriously, it was more silent than a library, which was initially challenging for me because I could have a had a lively conversation with one of the marble pillars in the museum. Nevertheless, it turned out to be the ideal environment for observing the truly amazing collection of paintings that the gallery has stocked into its walls.
We started off looking at the Renaissance artwork, which is some of my favorite. It is amazing to see the difference in style from the 15th and 16th centuries to 17th century oil paintings, particularly the sense of depth of the facial features and forms of the subjects. Additionally, the popularity of mythology and pagan themes are prevalent throughout the Renaissance paintings compared to the religious themes of centuries prior. Interestingly, I had never noticed how Eurocentric the religious paintings were from the physical appearance of the subjects to their clothing. Here are a few of my favorites (with a little art history lesson on each so that we can all be a little more edumacated):
The Concert, by Gerrit van Honthorst
van Hornthorst was a Dutch painter who was inspired by contemporary Italian painters, most notably Michaelangelo de Caravaggio. According to the National Art Gallery website, van Honthorst's The Concert was first mentioned in the literature in 1632 where it was said to be part of the artistic inventory of one of the Prince of Orange's palaces in The Hague.
Daniel in the Lions' Den, by Sir Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens was a well-renowned Flemish painter of the Baroque period. Daniel in the Lions' Den depicts some of the characteristic themes of this artistic era, including the depiction of intense emotion and an asymmetric layout, which further draws attention to the main subject of the painting.
The Fall of Man, by Hendrik Goltzius
Goltzius was a German engraver and printmaker who turned his talents to painting in 1616 with his painting of the biblical fall of Adam and Eve. The painting is extremely sensual and even enticing to the viewer, which is a paradox given the nature of the story which is one of shame. You may also be wondering the same thing I did, e.g. what the heck is the cat doing here? I found a very interesting interpretation for the significance of the animals depicted in the scene. If you're interested, go here!
Next, we made our way across the museum to the Impressionist Era, where we saw one of my favorite paintings, A Girl with a Watering Can by Auguste Renoir.
And then there was another painting that I just thought was so beautiful: Two Nudes by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The use of color is certainly characteristic of the Expressionist era, as is the composition. While I was unable to find information on this particular painting, I did learn that Kirchner committed suicide in 1938, one year after his work was labeled as "degenerate" by the Nazi's and the majority of his paintings and print work sold or destroyed.
After finding a few of Joy's favorite Monet paintings, we went downstairs to explore the sculpture. I have to admit that painting is by far my favorite art form, however I have the utmost appreciation for sculpture. The fact that these life-like forms are sculpted by hand in various mediums is amazing to me, particularly the marble sculpture. One that caught my eye was The Evil Spirits, by Auguste Rodin.
After a little research, I learned that this piece was to be part of the defining project of Rodin's career, The Gates of Hell, a pair of bronze doors that Rodin was commissioned to create for an art museum in Paris. The Evil Spirits depicts three nude figures. I see a young women seated combing her hair, with two figures - one man and one woman - on either side, shielding her.
As we moved away from the sculpture, we can across a room with a collection of porcelain pieces from two Chinese dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties. While these pieces were incredibly beautiful as you will see in the pictures, the most important take away from this room was a conversation that I had with Joy that went something like this...
ME: "I didn't know that they invented porcelain in China!"
JOY: "Um, yeah...that's why it's called china."
After several hours had passed, including quite a bit of time in the Gallery's souvenir shop, we made our way out of the museum, both of us feeling incredibly inspired (and happy to have spent some time together).
What is art? That was the question that Joy had to answer. I could not help but ponder the question myself as we passed through the many rooms of the National Gallery of Art, admiring these timeless pieces that have been collected for our viewing pleasure and for our own pondering and interpretation. To me, art is the physical expression of the mind. Yes, that is a broad and abstract statement. But isn't that the point? What is physical expression? Is it painting, sculpture, dance, music? And what is the mind? Is it a space of thoughts, dreams, yearnings, emotions, pain?
I don't know the answer. But I do know this: a day of thought provoking questions and intellectual artistic interpretations is best ended by sharing a pair of beef hot dogs with your little sister on the steps of the Natural History Museum.
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