Unsung artists are the people who arrange art in museums so that magical moments of connection can occur as people move from masterpiece to masterpiece. It's almost as though they are orchestrating a conversation between the artists so that museum visitors can eavesdrop. My favorite museum moments are these "Whoa! Wow! ones that they've created.
YES! You're so right. I was in awe of the juxtapositions I kept encountering, and so grateful to all the whomevers that made such inspiring connections possible.
I grew up in Chicago and went to the Art Institute a lot as a child. My favorite painting was the Magritte that you featured. When I was an adult, I moved back to Chicago for a couple of years. I would often spend my lunch at the Monet exhibit calming my brain. Now I live in California and whenever I’m in Chicago I MUST go to the Art Institute. It’s my favorite museum in the world. And go 5 year old me for recognizing the genius that is Magritte (and for spending long periods of time looking at Van Gough’s self portraits trying to find his ear).
Oh wow, Merle! That is so exciting that you were able to grow up going there. That Magritte is SO arresting in person. They also have that fantastic one of the bright red sun that caught my eye, as well. Your little 5-year-old self was totally onto something!!
This looks (and sounds) like such an amazing experience, Haley! I'm so glad you shared it with us; your excitement, wonder, and enthusiasm are so clear! I wonder if those amazing artists' ever grasped how their art would continue to touch people.
Thanks so much, Kate! I always wonder that, too. The same way that I wish we could tell Virginia Woolf how much her work means to people, or Sylvia Plath what she did for poetry, or any number of writers whose work continues to resonate so much.
I am absolutely in love with how you share this day with us. I think I have grown to take fine art for granted in my life and your post reminds me that there's nothing given about art and being able to see it, but also that there's nothing natural or obvious about *loving* art and coming to encounter it in our terms, in our own pace!
I was actually talking to someone recently, and he said something about that -- that I was talking about the museum as if everyone wants to go spend a whole day looking at art, and I was shocked to remember that there are so very many people who'd rather do anything else, especially on vacation. Thankfully I've surrounded myself with people who want to go there and to love it and encounter it as often as possible. Whew.
Loved!! I can tell we would have a great time in an art museum together! I cried in front of a pen and ink drawing by Ruth Asawa this week. I’m still trying to find the words for the experience. Thank you for sharing and taking us along on your art trip!
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and your reactions to the art. Loved that you went through all the colors of the emotional palette. I've not been to the Art Institute (yet), and the collections looks so good. (A Hopper in person?! Yes, please.)
I went to a new-to-me museum here in Prague yesterday. It's a 13th-century convent that's now a museum for medieval art from around the Czech Republic. Prior to yesterday, I didn't think I was all that interested in medieval art, but I had so much fun walking through the galleries with my friend. We felt moved, angered, delighted, surprised... all the emotions... by the art. And we laughed so many times at the babies-that-don't-look-like-babies and marveled at the modernish expressions on some of the faces of the statues and paintings. It just filled me up. I loved seeing the Art Institute vicariously through you and kind of reliving my experience yesterday. So, thanks! —Mel
I laughed out loud at your mention of babies-that-don't-look-like-babies, so I can only imagine the giggles at actually looking at them in a museum. Hahahaha. I love it. Thank you, thank you!!
Oh, Van Gogh's self portrait... You know how some music and art just kind of seeps into your consciousness, so you don't know if you actually like it or not? It's just there? That's how I was with Van Gogh. Totally respect the genius at work, not sure I'm entirely moved by the work itself. Then, ages ago, my husband Dave and I to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. I was just kind of wandering around, taking it all in. I walked into a small gallery, and there was a VG self portrait hanging on the wall, all thick blots of paint and swirling color, and I burst into tears. Just... bam! Totally visceral reaction. Seeing it in person was such a different experience than, say, a tote bag or bookmark. It felt so HUMAN and alive. And in a nanosecond, I thought about his tortured life and the sun in Arles and the speed at which he must have been daubing the paint on the canvas and it was just such a fantastic, sad, joyous moment. Phew. —Mel
Oh my god, I love this SO MUCH because that is exactly how I felt about Picasso at the Chicago Institute!! I have seen so much Picasso in textbooks and on shirts and things, as a modernist student for so long, and then I saw The Old Guitarist in person and it was like...I could barely stand to look at it. It was so gutting, like my whole body was having a response to it. And I just kinda stood there in raw shock, trying to take it in but feeling completely overwhelmed and crying with about a million feelings at once.
Whatever magic that is, whatever cosmic bigger-than-me energy made that happen...I'm all for it. I want to always be sensitive to it.
This looks and sounds like an incredible experience! I haven't been to Chicago (it's on my list of "someday" cities) but this is making me want to visit sooner rather than later. I love the connections with strangers that art can bring when we make time for it.
I really love Chicago! I've only been a couple of times, but I very much prefer it to almost every other city I've visited. And now, it's definitely a winner because of that museum!!
This looks absolutely amazing. As I will almost certainly never make it to Chicago... I'm very grateful!
You're welcome!! There are so many more treasures there, I've barely hinted at it. Their website is absolutely lovely if you'd like a deeper dive!
Unsung artists are the people who arrange art in museums so that magical moments of connection can occur as people move from masterpiece to masterpiece. It's almost as though they are orchestrating a conversation between the artists so that museum visitors can eavesdrop. My favorite museum moments are these "Whoa! Wow! ones that they've created.
YES! You're so right. I was in awe of the juxtapositions I kept encountering, and so grateful to all the whomevers that made such inspiring connections possible.
I grew up in Chicago and went to the Art Institute a lot as a child. My favorite painting was the Magritte that you featured. When I was an adult, I moved back to Chicago for a couple of years. I would often spend my lunch at the Monet exhibit calming my brain. Now I live in California and whenever I’m in Chicago I MUST go to the Art Institute. It’s my favorite museum in the world. And go 5 year old me for recognizing the genius that is Magritte (and for spending long periods of time looking at Van Gough’s self portraits trying to find his ear).
Oh wow, Merle! That is so exciting that you were able to grow up going there. That Magritte is SO arresting in person. They also have that fantastic one of the bright red sun that caught my eye, as well. Your little 5-year-old self was totally onto something!!
This looks (and sounds) like such an amazing experience, Haley! I'm so glad you shared it with us; your excitement, wonder, and enthusiasm are so clear! I wonder if those amazing artists' ever grasped how their art would continue to touch people.
Thanks so much, Kate! I always wonder that, too. The same way that I wish we could tell Virginia Woolf how much her work means to people, or Sylvia Plath what she did for poetry, or any number of writers whose work continues to resonate so much.
I am absolutely in love with how you share this day with us. I think I have grown to take fine art for granted in my life and your post reminds me that there's nothing given about art and being able to see it, but also that there's nothing natural or obvious about *loving* art and coming to encounter it in our terms, in our own pace!
Ah, I love that Juliana! thank you.
I was actually talking to someone recently, and he said something about that -- that I was talking about the museum as if everyone wants to go spend a whole day looking at art, and I was shocked to remember that there are so very many people who'd rather do anything else, especially on vacation. Thankfully I've surrounded myself with people who want to go there and to love it and encounter it as often as possible. Whew.
Loved!! I can tell we would have a great time in an art museum together! I cried in front of a pen and ink drawing by Ruth Asawa this week. I’m still trying to find the words for the experience. Thank you for sharing and taking us along on your art trip!
I think we would have a grand time, too!! You've got me googling Ruth Asawa -- thank you.
(And WOW. her work!!!!)
I know!!!
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and your reactions to the art. Loved that you went through all the colors of the emotional palette. I've not been to the Art Institute (yet), and the collections looks so good. (A Hopper in person?! Yes, please.)
I went to a new-to-me museum here in Prague yesterday. It's a 13th-century convent that's now a museum for medieval art from around the Czech Republic. Prior to yesterday, I didn't think I was all that interested in medieval art, but I had so much fun walking through the galleries with my friend. We felt moved, angered, delighted, surprised... all the emotions... by the art. And we laughed so many times at the babies-that-don't-look-like-babies and marveled at the modernish expressions on some of the faces of the statues and paintings. It just filled me up. I loved seeing the Art Institute vicariously through you and kind of reliving my experience yesterday. So, thanks! —Mel
I know: A Hopper!!! in person!!!!
Van Gogh's self portrait, too. Gasp.
I laughed out loud at your mention of babies-that-don't-look-like-babies, so I can only imagine the giggles at actually looking at them in a museum. Hahahaha. I love it. Thank you, thank you!!
Oh, Van Gogh's self portrait... You know how some music and art just kind of seeps into your consciousness, so you don't know if you actually like it or not? It's just there? That's how I was with Van Gogh. Totally respect the genius at work, not sure I'm entirely moved by the work itself. Then, ages ago, my husband Dave and I to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. I was just kind of wandering around, taking it all in. I walked into a small gallery, and there was a VG self portrait hanging on the wall, all thick blots of paint and swirling color, and I burst into tears. Just... bam! Totally visceral reaction. Seeing it in person was such a different experience than, say, a tote bag or bookmark. It felt so HUMAN and alive. And in a nanosecond, I thought about his tortured life and the sun in Arles and the speed at which he must have been daubing the paint on the canvas and it was just such a fantastic, sad, joyous moment. Phew. —Mel
Oh my god, I love this SO MUCH because that is exactly how I felt about Picasso at the Chicago Institute!! I have seen so much Picasso in textbooks and on shirts and things, as a modernist student for so long, and then I saw The Old Guitarist in person and it was like...I could barely stand to look at it. It was so gutting, like my whole body was having a response to it. And I just kinda stood there in raw shock, trying to take it in but feeling completely overwhelmed and crying with about a million feelings at once.
Whatever magic that is, whatever cosmic bigger-than-me energy made that happen...I'm all for it. I want to always be sensitive to it.
This looks and sounds like an incredible experience! I haven't been to Chicago (it's on my list of "someday" cities) but this is making me want to visit sooner rather than later. I love the connections with strangers that art can bring when we make time for it.
I really love Chicago! I've only been a couple of times, but I very much prefer it to almost every other city I've visited. And now, it's definitely a winner because of that museum!!
Did you know: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/painting-that-stopped-bill-murray-suicide ?
Wow. I did not know! Thank you for telling me! (Also, lol that the writer of this article did not know, apparently, that Willa Cather was a woman.)
lol I didn't even notice! I had heard the story elsewhere and saw the painting so looked for a writeup to share with you here lol
Also btw Song of the Lark is one of the truly great American novels and I've always wanted to visit those cliffs / cavern that appears in the novel.