Thursday, April 19, 2012
I have loved Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings for a very long time. My grandmother had a framed print of The Sunflowers hanging in her house ever since I could remember. When I was a kid, it had never occurred to me that it was a famous painting. I just knew that I liked the pretty painting with the sunny flowers in a vase. When I was older and encountered the original in the Metropolitan Museum, I felt like I was greeting an old friend. There were more old friends and new acquaintances when Jeff and I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Holland in July 2009.
Entrance to Philadelphia Museum of Art
In the mid-1970s there was a fabulous retrospective exhibit of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I packed up my two young sons, we took the long subway ride to Brooklyn, and we spent an enjoyable day at the museum. It was then that I fell in love with Van Gogh’s beautiful glowing paintings. The beams of light on the paintings made the colors more vibrant and luminous. The golden butter-yellow wheat fields burst off the canvases. The bright red poppies popped out against the cool green grasses and almost swayed in unfelt breezes. The blues and greens and aquamarines of uniforms or sky or wallpaper glowed in each painting. One painting was more indescribably beautiful than the next. Vincent Van Gogh painted a legacy of natural beauty for all of us to enjoy.
American Paintings
A few years ago, during a trip through Provence, Jeff and I happened to wander into the courtyard of the hospital in Arles where Van Gogh spent some time. We drove through the beautiful countryside around Arles and St. Remy and saw the yellow wheat fields and silvery green olive orchards similar to those in Van Gogh’s paintings. We saw the places that Van Gogh had visited and painted: the Cafe Terrace, the Langlois Bridge, and the orchards of olives and almond trees. It was easy to see why Van Gogh became excited and came alive and captured the light of southern France in his paintings.
Japanese Ceremonial Teahouse
Last night, we spent a restful night at the Sofitel in downtown Philly; it was a modern comfortable room. Our timed tickets for the Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art were for 12:30 PM. We checked out of the hotel and drove to the museum for early coffee when the museum opened. We wanted to visit several parts of the museum before seeing Van Gogh Up Close. We climbed the stairs to the second floor toward the museum’s Asian Art section. It did not disappoint! They have a fabulous collection of Asian art from several different countries.
Statue of Buddha
We walked into the Pillared Temple Hall which is a reconstructed 16th century temple hall made of 14 hugh elaborately carved granite pillars originally located in the south Indian city of Madural. It was quite impressive! The next room was the Reception Hall From a Nobleman’s Palace from 1600s Beijing. This was another beautiful reconstructed room with gorgeous Chinese rosewood furniture. Part of the Chinese Imperial Collection was displayed in some of the cases.
Scholar’s Study
At the end of the Asian wing there was a reproduced Japanese Ceremonial Teahouse which was built in 1917. On one side there was an exhibit called A Taste For Tea in Japan. There were descriptions of the processes of tea ceremonies and the accouterments associated with each step. I liked the idea of “The tea ceremony offers a temporary respite from the complexities of daily life”. On the other side of the teahouse was a beautiful room from a Chinese Scholar’s house. The Asian wing did not have many visitors, so it was pleasant walking around and viewing the incredibly detailed works of art.
The Great Stair Hall
We had a little time to see some of the American art on the first floor. We had recently seen the hugh new American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, so we approached carefully to avoid comparisons. This exhibit was very good because it was small scale and included newer “folk art” pieces as well as regional art from Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania. There were Pennsylvania chests, Philadelphia highboys and paintings, furniture, silver, glass, and ceramics from the 18th & 19th centuries. There was a nice collection of Rookwood pottery and some lovely Tiffany Studios pieces.
A Corner in South Philadelphia
About 12:15 we joined the long line near the entrance to the Van Gogh exhibit. Twenty minutes later we were able to pass though the gates to enjoy some time with Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings. Of course there was no photography allowed in the special exhibit. Anyway, photographs or reproductions never capture the beauty of the colors of his paintings.
It was a rather large exhibit of about 45 paintings mainly from the last few years of Van Gogh’s life. The paintings were grouped according to several themes: “Blades of Grass,” “High Horizons,” and “Tree Trunks and Undergrowth”. We followed Van Gogh across different terrains as he explored a variety of viewpoints and the viewing angles that he saw. One painting that I had not seen before was entitled, Rain. It was Van Gogh’s fields blurred by diagonal lines of white and grays which simulated a heavy rainstorm. The entire exhibit was wonderful.
Pat’s King of Steaks
Geno’s Steaks
We were planning to drive home this afternoon, after lunch. I joked with Jeff that I came to Philadelphia for the Van Gogh exhibit and he came for the Philly Cheese Steaks! So we were obliged to go to “South Philly” for lunch. We drove to the famous corners of Philly Cheese Steak fame to “Pat’s King of Steaks” and “Geno’s Steaks”. The two establishments are on triangular corners across the street from each other. We found parking easily and Jeff chose to try Pat’s steak sandwich with provolone cheese rather than the traditional “Cheese Whiz”.
Instructions at Pat’s
After one hearty sandwich, Jeff couldn’t eat another sandwich, so he is planning to return soon to try Geno’s steak sandwich. Next month, the Barnes Foundation opens in their new building with the largest collection of French Impressionist Art in the United States. We’ll return to Philadelphia: me for the art; and Jeff for the Philly Cheese Steak! :-)
South Philly Mailbox
Wall Near Pat’s & Geno’s