Saturday

On Saturday I visited the Phillips Collection in DC. I've been wanting to go and am excited about their upcoming Paul Klee exhibition but I decided I couldn't hold off until then. At the current moment their feature exhibit is "The Renoir Returns" in celebration of Luncheon of the Boating Party. The exhibit features many of the collection's best works and I was quite amazed at the display.
The museum has an exquisite collection and there was really nothing that I was disappointed to see (except perhaps a baseball painting which I believe was by Mr. Phillips' wife. Luckily it was hung in a stairway so it did not steal a prime spot away from something more deserving and beautiful). The Renoir exhibition had such beautiful things and I am not exactly certain where the exhibit began and ended because the other works hanging were as notable so I will tell you what I saw in no particular order. There were Picassos. Still-lifes mostly. Also cubist still-lifes by Braque and Gris. Matisses. Kandinskys and Mondrians. A Vierra de Silva (I think this was the first I've seen in the flesh). A wonderful Cezanne still-life. A small Ingres bather which was hanging slightly crooked. How I so wanted to reach out and straighten it! Two Bonnards, one of which I drew from. A Dufy which was lovely to see as I just posted one of his works on my blog last week. Rothkos, which were quite overpowering as they were hung in a very small room. Two small Klines which were rather nice. After my tour of the Phillips I decided to head over to the National Gallery to see if I could find a parking spot. I did and started out in the main building. I walked through the exhibit of Venetian drawings. I then headed over to the modern building. More Rothkos, saw Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross. I saw these at the Philadelphia Museum but I thought differently about them this time. Sat for a while in the Calder room. Walked through the exhibit of small French paintings. More Bonnards, Corots.
There were a few things that stood out in my mind when I finally finished my museum-going for the day and sat to collect my thoughts.
In the Calder room there is a mobile which is attached to the top of a canvas. If I remember correctly, the canvas is really two canvases (squares perhaps?) put together to form a rectangle. I thought it was very interesting that this 3 dimensional mobile was casting its shadows on a canvas, and in the process producing a 2 dimensional piece of art. I sat for a while and looked at the Calder, thinking about the shapes he uses in his works and how they related to one another. Line becoming plane, plane becoming line. It was very fascinating. Another thing that interested me greatly was a grouping of fruit in one of Cezanne's still-lifes. Cezanne always arranges his objects, including his fruit, so meticulously, however there is always the possibility that an apple is just about to roll of the table. In this particular still life, he groups what appears to be 4 pieces of fruit together, but because of the way he groups them, they appear to be one strange object. I am constantly amazed by Cezanne's work and this still life was very amazing. As museum days go, it was a great one. I definitely feel that I got many things out of it and to anyone who is able to visit, I highly recommend the Phillips Collection.