WE ‘OD ON ART

May 24, 2012     We got a lazy start this morning, but that just meant there were fewer people on the metro when we did head to town.  We decided to do the West building of the National Gallery of Art, which houses more traditional things for the most part.  We were seriously overdosing on paintings after a few hours.  It’s hard to appreciate these works when they’re piling on in gallery after gallery.  That said, it was a gluttonous feast.  The sailing piece is Winslow Homer, of course.  The shark attack is by John Singleton Copley (1778) and supposedly portrayed a real story – the would-be victim later became the Lord Mayor of London.

There seem to be certain paintings that capture your attention.  This is one that I really liked, mostly for the expression on her face and her languid posture and flowing gown.  It’s by John Singer Sargent, painted towards the latter part of his life (1911) after he became tired of doing the usual portraits.

Loni particularly liked this bronze tableau.

Three more that piqued my interest.  The shipwreck is by Claude Joseph Vernet (1772), the trio is by Sir Henry Raeburn (1792), and I’m pulling a blank on the man and girl.

We broke for lunch and ate in the museum at the Garden Café.  Pretty pricey for such mundane surroundings, but it was convenient.  I had some sort of fish and white bean concoction (on the right), but god only knows what Loni was eating.  She thinks it had peppers and root veggies, but can’t really remember.  She does think it was delicious.  

After lunch, we had fuel to get back to the galleries and more paintings.  This time, I actually wrote on a scrap of paper what struck my fancy.  Clockwise, from upper left:  “Madame Picasso” (1923), “Botticelli’s “Guiliano de’Medici” (1499), “Gallery of the Louvre” by Samuel F. B. Morse (yes, that Morse), the only DaVinci painting in America, his portrait of Ginevra dd’Benci (1474-78), bust of Lorenzo de’Medici (unknown), bust of Guiliano de’Medici by Veirocchio (1475).  I was fascinated by the portrait and the bust of Guilliano, as each artist captured the same sense of smug hautiness that must have pervaded the man.

Below is another that intrigued me.  Georges de la Tour’s “The Repentant Magdalene” (1640).  The placement of the light source behind the skull, the diaphanous sleeves, and her pensive expression were brilliant.

Loni began to get a migraine from the air conditioning, which was working overtime, so we left.  As soon as we got outside into the 85 degree/90% humidity weather she was cured.  We walked around for a while, but were frustrated by the closed mall.

About the only thing we could get close to was the Capitol Building, which looked pretty nice with the blue sky/white clouds background.  They were setting up in front of it for the concert they were going to have on Memorial Day.

Walking back to the metro, we stumbled onto a Gordon Biersch brewpub and decided to get out of the heat and have an early dinner.  Best thing on the menu appeared to be their burgers.  We rarely eat ‘em, but go whole hog when we do.  Garlic fries, good slaw.  The beer wasn’t bad, either!