“Donde esta le musée?” I ask in my best Frenish (unintentional French-Spanish spicy blend) to the perplexed passer-by. No matter where the destination, I scout out museums. All cities, most towns have them. Even here in Morro Bay is an impressive Natural History Museum, a Skateboard Museum, a Maritime Museum, and a Sewing Museum?! Alas for the last several pandemic months, a sign on all their doors reads, “Closed”.
While Mother Nature’s immense beauty is always open for exploration and just a step outside, I miss being witness to the artistic expression living in museums. I miss the ‘vibrations of creation’ imperceptibly pulsing through their halls — the grandeur and collective oeuvre assimilating into my soul, as if through osmosis. When a work of art beckons it holds magnetic power, urging me to stand in awe and ruminate. I imagine the artists — holding brush to canvas, or fingers to clay, graphite to paper. What’s in their head? What’s happening in their world? Who do they love? Where do they find inspiration? Are they killing their houseplants, too?
Sometimes I take pictures or purchase museum postcards for further contemplation. And as with rereading a book, or hearing a forgotten melody — the revisitation enhances, reinvents the original interpretation. Looking through these images, I am reminded that while art is timeless, life is not. Yet, Life is Art. Each one unique — to be inhaled passionately, and exhaled with enduring gratitude.
The world’s museums may all be closed, but this collection is “Open”. Some of the names of the artists are remembered, some of the titles, some of the locations. The order is random. Please take your time.
There’s nothing like the real thing, baby, but may you be moved, whilst removed. And in this surplus time at home, maybe even inspired to create your own?!
Our R Bar welcome
Crafted from a lamp shade
Belém Cultural Center, Lisbon (You know it’s the 60’s)
Loren
“Pase de pecho con la izquierda”
Seville, Spain
René Magritte
“The Survivor”
Anthony van Dyck
“Paris”
The Wallace Collection, London
Govaert Flinck
“A Young Archer”
The Wallace Collection, London
di G. Sammartino
“Il Cristo Velato”
Museo Cappella Sanseverro,
Naples, Italy (IN REALITY, THE MARBLE APPEARS TRANSPARENT. SURREAL)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
“St. Jerome writing”
Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome
Ary Scheffer
“Francesca de Rimini”
The Wallace Collection, London
Anton Mauve
“Horse riding in the Snow”
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Dominique-Louis-Féréal Papety
“The Temptation of St. Hilarion”
The Wallace Collection, London
John Preble
“Abitian Saint”
Abita Springs, LA
Gerald Laing
“Surfer Girl” Lisbon
Musée Granet
Aix-en-Provence (Giocometti?)
Victor Brauner
“Ice Knight”
Eyvind Earle
Vincent Van Gogh
“The Pink Orchard” Edinburgh
Sir James Guthrie
“A Hind’s Daughter” Edinburgh
René Magritte
Musée Magritte Museum
Brussels
Georges Rouault
Jimmie Durham
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Jimmie Durham
Jimmie Durham
Félix-Edouard Vallotton
Au Theatre Français, troisième balcon
Louis Anquetin
Portrait de Paul-Napoleon Roinard
Musée Granet
Aix-en-Provence
Tivoli Too St. Paul, MN
(Marcie, Woodstock, and me reading together. Lucy teasing w/football backdrop)
François-Pierre Peyron “Sainte Madeleine Méditant”
Théodore Géricault
Théodore Géricault
L’apave ou La tempête
Eugéne Delacroix
“Ruines de la chapelle de l’abbaye de Valmont”
Photography exhibit of Sistine Chapel,
Montreal
Raymond Mason
“Illuminated Crowd” Montreal
Claude Monet
“Route, effet de neige soleil couchant”
Sculpture Garden
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
Frits Thanlow
“La vieille fabrique”
Jesus up close
Henry Raeburn
Mary Magdalene and Jesus
Santa Barbara Mission
Mary close up
And closer…
Sculpture Garden
Musée des Beauxs-Arts, Rouen
Albert Fourié
Mort de Madame Bovary
Sir John Lavery
“Japanese Switzerland” Dublin City Gallery
Leonard Baskin New Orleans
Leonard Baskin
Poet’s Corner
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Loved these! Life is Art….I felt like I was at a museum or traveling the globe while looking at these works of art. I do not remember the welcome sign at R bar – but I love the uniqueness – very creative!
Nature is art, too. “Nature never breaks her own laws.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci.
I am busy creating a work of art on a large project in Beachwood, OH. Quite the haul from Oberlin, but the project is quite inspiring! Be well my friend.
Hey Jo! Good on ya for the project in Beachwood. Would love to see photos in your Gardenscapes by Joanna newsletter or website! As I wrote my post, I visualized Nature when I first wrote Life is Art. When I included humans I was going to add that each is a masterpiece – but then I thought of a “huge” exception…
It’s interesting to see your connection between art and writing. Hemingway would write all morning then visit the local museum in the afternoon, studying the paintings carefully and allowing them to be absorbed into his writing.
Hemingway believed each word was a brush stroke on the page.
Good stuff, kid.
Interesting facto about Hemingway. And now I shall poetically visualize words as a brush strokes, thanks Macker. I remember attending an art exhibit entitled, “Brush strokes of Enlightenment”. There were only a few graceful strokes to each image in a painting. When asked how long it took to complete the work the master and artist replied, “Five minutes and eighty years.”