MoMA

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Pablo Picasso
1907

Dance
Henri Matisse
1910

THE last great confrontation between Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso in London took place at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1945. "I can just imagine the gallery with my pictures down one side and his on the other," wrote Matisse. "How solemn (if not stuffy - at any rate to some) I'm going to look alongside his pyrotechnics. Still, I'll have to go through with it. I've always told myself justice will be done some day." Read more

The Frick Collection - New York City

The Rehearsal
H.G. Edgar Degas
c. 1878-79

Officer and Laughing Girl
Johannes Vermeer

The Harbor of Dieppe
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851

Symphony in Flesh Color and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland. 1871-3
James McNeill Whistler

Hello from New York City!

Last night after a yummy Indian dinner, W.P. and I went walking around the iconic Times Square. Crazy, commercialized American frenzy at its best. I love it once every couple of years, which is how often I've been visiting NYC in recent years.

After purchasing a big memory card for my new camera, I went about snapping silly photos all day. From the cab, walking down 5th and Madison Avenues, from the window of a cafe', along a sidewalk carpeted with people.

W.P. had only a meeting from 9:00 a.m. to noon and we had planned to go to MoMA together. He's never actually had the time to visit there on other business trips and was quite looking forward to it. Neither of us thought to look up the schedule and voila - the sign said Closed on Tuesdays. I then remembered a post by a blogger I don't know very well but whose comments I am always glad to read on other blogs - Grandmere Mimi. A few months back, Mimi posted about a visit she made to the Frick Collection, a smaller art museum in New York - located between Madison and 5th Avenues. After reading Mimi's post, I vowed to check it out the next time I was in NYC. As the MoMA was closed today, I immediately exclaimed - "The Frick!" and off we went.

I haven't yet digested everything I saw there but right off, the Whistlers held me most captive while there and still, now, as I think about the many incredible works of art I saw there. Apparently, Mr. Frick was not overly fond of American artists, so it is fortunate that he admired Whistler and acquired several incredible portraits and landscapes for the collection. Perhaps because Whistler was American-born but lived mostly in England. Other works included those of John Constable, William Turner, Claude Monet, Renoir, Manet, Degas and three irresistible paintings of Vermeer.

The museum was rather packed but probably nothing like what MoMA will be like tomorrow. I regret that W.P. will be tied up with work all day tomorrow and Thursday and may not be able to join me until after closing time.

The bright side of this is that I can take my time; savor each artwork I crave; return to those I love most and those I understand least. Like a little kid on the eve of the first day of school - I will have trouble sleeping.

Sunday

(photo taken by me at The Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts)

Hello dearest blog friends,

As some of you know, my mother's been visiting. She left on Friday for my brother's house and will be arriving home to Midsize Village, Portugal (about 50 miles northwest of Lisbon) on Monday.

The telling of Supergirl One's life and future went relatively well. Both granddaughter and grandmother endured the experience well, - all things considered. I'm really pleased and proud of both Supergirl One and my mother. That was a lot of emotion to take on in such a short period of time. Phew. I'm glad it's over.

This past weekend, The Girls, their dad and I went to the Green River Music and Balloon Festival. It was, I believe, the hottest and most humid day of the year in these parts. In that regard, it was brutal but the thunderstorms that ringed us all evening held off and the final act, Lucinda Williams and her band Buick 6, went off without a hitch. We had a great day.

I, my friends, will be taking off for a much-needed mini-vacation with W.P. He is scheduled to be in New York City as part of a project he's working on there and I'll be going along to take advantage of the benefits of the free hotel room, which is walking distance from MoMA. That should keep me busy for at least one day. I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding things to do.

While in New York, I have a lot of research to do about obtaining an advanced degree in special education. I've been thinking about it for some time and based on a conversation I had with a co-worker, I began to think about it some more. Recently I went over to FranIAm's site and saw this inspiring post (but then again, all of Fran's posts are inspiring to me). So, I think I may be taking the plunge and returning to school. It's interesting that even simply investigating the possibility of a graduate degree makes me break out in hives and yet, contemplating my marriage to W.P. hasn't caused me any concern whatsoever.

I'll have to begin to try to overcome my anxiety over returning to school for the first time since, what...1983? Yikes.

Meanwhile, I will be blogging from New York starting probably on Tuesday. Off to read your weekend blogging now!

Take care. Be well. Peace. Love.

Pagan