Too Tired For Art

On Sunday we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Normally admission for adults is $14, but on Sundays you can "pay what you wish." Why anyone would go on any other day of the week is beyond me, but we decided to each pay $5 and check the place out.

The museum is BIG; it's divided into two wings on two floors. American Art, European Art 1850-1900, Modern and Contemporary Art and Special Exhibitions are on the first floor, while European Art 1100-1500, Asian Art, Arms and Armor, and European Art 1500-1850 are on the second floor.

Maybe we don't know our art, but for most of the museum we were kinda lost. But eventually we did see some VanGogh, Manet, Monet, Renoir and Picasso. There were even some Andy Warhol pieces. We saw some of the more familiar portraits of George Washington too. Another interesting exhibit were portraits and busts of Benjamin Franklin. (You can't get enough of Franklin in Philly). The armory reminded me of similar displays in the Tower of London and in Venice.

As the picture above suggests, the boys were pretty well behaved. They were both sawing logs for about half of the visit, which made the trip a peaceful one, but we had to take turns pushing their dead weight around. I noticed that several museum employees were smiling and snickering at us as we navigated through the galleries. Guess they have seen that before a million times.

Not to sound negative (I'm really not a negative person), but I didn't really understand what was so great about the "Notations/William Kentridge: Tapestries" exhibit; it's just construction paper on clip art maps. The real headscratcher for me (and I think for Jena too) was Cy Twombly's "Fifty Days at Iliam" collection. It looked like something my 1-year-old and 3-year-old could have collaborated on ("Fifty Days at Daycare"). After we saw this, Jena and I wondered aloud how many people had to decide that a piece was "art." But I think "Iliam" is worth seeing if only that it could inspire people who don't think they are talented enough to be an artist to think otherwise.

Well, I was inspired anyway.