National Gallery of Art - DC (NGA)

By Now, all of my readers, six I think, know that Jenny and I are avid museum goers. We have been to so many museums in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South and North America that I cannot count them. My son, Robby, one day asked how did I become to enjoy art so much and especially going to museums. I had to think on that one for a while!

I don’t remember anything special happening in my childhood that would have piqued my interest in art, so I have to fast forward to when Robby was about ten; we use to visit the Greenville County Museum of Art and I fell in love with Andrew Wyeth’s paintings and have been of fan of Wyeth and the art world ever since. I Also learned a lot from Chester, my brother-in-law, who talked about the many museums he and my sister Joan visited. He told me about many of the smaller museums in the US that he would visit when he was on a business trip. I now think that before he left to visit customers, he would find out what museums were in the area. I will always be thankful for his sharing his love for art with me.

Today I want to write about our recent visit of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC; I have to say DC because as many of you know there is a great National Gallery in London, which Jenny and I were privilege to visit in 2006, along with the Tate Modern and Tate Britain.

This was our second visit to the National Gallery in DC; we were there about ten years ago and of course we had to go again, especially because of the current exhibition; From Impressionism to Modernism; The Chester Dale Collection. This exhibition presents eighty-three paintings of some of the finest paintings from this era. It also was the first time this Exhibition was shown in over forty-five year.

Dale made his money on Wall Street and in 1962 shared his love for art with the Nation by donating his portfolio to NGA. If you want to see it, you must go to DC because it does not travel.

Just one of the pictures of Jenny and the "Gardens" inside the West Building.

The East Building, designed by I. M. Pei and opened in 1978.

Andrew Wyeth, American, 1917-2009, Wind From The Sea, 1947. The painting was painted in the Olsen House attic in Maine. You can almost feel the wind can't you? This is one of two paintings in the NGA; there are also about fifteen watercolors, prints and drawings in the collection.

Just a note; we took many pictures of the exhibition and the collection because we were told, for the first time ever, that you could take pictures, even with a flash. As many of you know most museums do not allow you to take pictures and NEVER with a flash. Interesting!