The first thing I noticed at the Huntington Museum of Art was how quiet and empty it was. This was not displeasing however--quite the opposite in fact. The atmosphere was perfect for contemplation and thought, which is exactly what I want in a museum. I was still surprised of course; my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago had been very different. Unlike in Huntington, Chicago’s museum was packed to the brim, and the people within it practically shouting just to be heard. It is very easy to decide which one I liked more, in terms of surroundings anyway. As I walked along, my footsteps echoing, I could not help but feel like there was something missing. The art was perfectly fine, but there was a lack of liveliness to the place, something that Chicago had in spades. I remember noticing that the art only had names, and no descriptions. This was something I disliked extremely. It is nice to look at images I suppose, but I want some history. I want the time period, and a description of the artist, two things that play a huge role in what a painting is actually about. I felt like I should just naturally understand what each piece of art was trying to describe to me, which was an irritating feeling.
It only took me about twenty minutes to go through the entire museum. Nothing really drew me in, except for a couple of pieces. This was entirely different from my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. There, almost everything drew me in. All the paintings, and especially some of
When I came to the museum, the first thing that impressed me was the astonishing building: it was a masterpiece itself. The exterior of the Tampa Museum of Art has a light installation, and all I wanted at that moment is night to come so I could see thousands of colored lights reflected in the surface of the river that flows near the museum. What’s more, I liked the design of the museum inside as well. There were white walls and perfect lighting, and nothing would bother contemplation. In many museums I have visited before there was a lot of distractions, but in this museum everything was done on the principle of simplicity, and that was very pleasing to me. Moreover, when we came inside of the museum, it was almost empty. There were just a few visitors, who were fascinated by various drawings and statues. Most of the visitors were teenagers, what slightly surprised me. I
Never before have I seen a museum as grand as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From its architecture to its massive art collection, The Met has a little bit of everything and one is sure to find something that captures his or her interest. Considering that The Met is the United States' largest art museum, it is easy to get lost within its many corridors and wings. My visit to The Met took place during the last week of July. Despite the almost unbearable heat and humidity that hung in the air, visiting museums under these climate conditions is a welcome respite from a suffocating, yet bright summer afternoon.
One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.
I was excited to start my day by going to the museum on Saturday morning. I had originally decided to visit the Broad Museum in Los Angeles; however, I decided to give my local museum a go. After all, the Bowers Museum was the last museum I had gone to. I regretted my decision. The Bowers Museum does hold several exhibitions, but I found it lacking in actual drawings and paintings. It seems as if they prioritize artifacts over print media. The museum is big and it’s easy to lose yourself in its long hallways. It’s disappointing to see much valuable space, in my opinion, go to waste. In conclusion, I was expecting to see hallways covered in art like I’ve seen in galleries, rooms filled with rarities and beauty, but unfortunately that was not the
As Edgar Degas once said, “ Art is not what you see, but what others make you see”. The St. Louis Art Museum is a place for artist to display their art and give spectators the option to see art from a new perspective. This was the case for me. As we walked up to the beautifully structured building that stood so tall and wide, my expectations were extremely high. At first glance I notice the bronze statue of King Louis IX of France riding high on his horse. From this statue alone, my expectations of the art museum grew stronger. I have never been to an art museum before, so I wasn’t sure of what to expect. My first expectation was to see huge detailed sculptures right as I walked through the door. That expectation didn’t come true.
During my visit to the Brooklyn Museum, I found it both intriguing and informative. The layout of the exhibition was divided into about three to four sections. Each section of the museum represented a movement of the 60’s. The themes represented were segregation of blacks and whites, how they tried to gain equality and the changes they anticipated would happen in the future. The artwork throughout the exhibit was displayed in a varying gradient of black and white to colors.
Having lived in the Sacramento area for the last 10 years, last weekend was my first trip to the Crocker Art Museum. The museum was slow when we first got there around 10:00 am, but within an hour it started to pick up. I did not expect much from a museum in Sacramento, I was thinking more like gold rush memorabilia or Sutter household items. In short, I love the place. It is so much bigger and with more art than I imagined. My favorite part of the museum was the old part and not the modern side. I did not get the meaning of quite a few of the modern paintings, ok, all of them. One of the modern Art 's was just a shoe that was painted, my friend and I tried to figure out why this was considered art and all we could come up with, is that it was an expensive shoe. I don 't even know what to say about a single Apple computer box, it had to represent something expensive because it was in a glass lock box.
This Summer, I had the opportunity to spend my entire break attending conferences and interning at a lab at UCSD so I thought to myself I would never have the time to visit any art museum or do my summer assignments for that matter. That was until I realized I was living at a campus who had an art piece practically on every corner of their six colleges. I then began my journey, on scooter, to discover the hidden and the not so hidden gems The Stuart Collection at UCSD had to offer. It was then that I fell in love with 2 specific art pieces throughout the campus, those being Do Ho Suh’s Fallen Star, which depicts an immigrant’s transition into American culture, and Kiki Smith’s Standing, which depicts a seemingly tortured woman.
An area that was particularly monotonous was the American Art exhibit. One statue that was “intriguing” was called, “Semiramis” by William Wetmore Story, 1872-1873. It was basically a huge statue of a woman sitting up on a chair. And as while walking by the other repeated statues and vases people would feel nothing, no emotion, or care whatsoever, feeling as if you were just looking at a piece of stone that had a few dents in it. It was definitely my least favorite part of the museum which was ironically next to the most interesting portion of the museum. Perhaps it was to balance out the bland and the fascinating artwork on the top
During Parent’s Weekend at Marquette, my family and I went to the Haggerty Art Museum. While I pleaded with my family to not go, as I am not a huge art fan, my Mom’s opinion overruled mine. From the outside, Haggerty looked like it would be small, but in reality, was quite large. When walking in, I immediately assumed that the art would not make any sense to me like at most art museums. However, I was quickly proven wrong as a lot of the art we saw was what I would consider impressive. They were not the drawings of a line or pieces that look like a child made them that you see at most museums, but what I call “real art”.
As I walked up to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) for the first time, I was overwhelmed with amount of visitors that occupied the steps to the entrance and wondered if this visit was the best choice. I opened the front doors to the museum and stepped inside; my immediate impression of the place reminded me of my first experience at Grand Central Station. Initially, I was overwhelmed and distracted by the hustle and loud noise around me, yet at the same time, I found myself mesmerized by the architectural beauty and layout of the place.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, is known for its wide variety of architectural artworks, and its collection of Asian art. It also has many works of Medieval and Ancient art, while also showing some present art pieces. My experience through the museum went very well. Throughout the whole museum, there wasn’t any place to look that was boring, or didn’t involve art, which was very cool. I liked how the pieces were labeled with a helpful description, and were categorized in similar sections. All the art pieces having the interesting descriptions, helped me understand the visual, value, and history behind all of the pieces, which I found very helpful relating them to class.
My experience to the Dallas Museum of Art was a bit different from the last time I had attended the museum. I was curious to see what pieces of art there would be and if it would be the same as the previous visit which was long ago, but to me all the pieces of art were so different and very interesting. It may have been because I saw all the pieces in a new perspective since learning about the different types of paintings there can be and knowing how and where sculptures come from. Even though I do not know much of art I really gave it a try into seeing what the artist may have wanted us to get out of his work. By reading a view of the chapters made me aware of art, I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but it was actually nice knowing that a
As a child, I traveled to Europe and visited various museums that housed numerous famous paintings. I remember walking into museums and not understanding anything, I could never actually understand the sheer brilliance behind these works of art. Now, after taking this Art History course, I can safely say that I understand and appreciate art a lot more. I would love to go visit all those museums again, just to see the art works from a completely different perspective. When I saw the Sistine Chapel a few years ago, I thought it was absolutely beautiful, but I didn’t really know what the paintings stood for therefore seeing it now would be a completely different experience. After visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art, there was one painting that really stood out for me, Prometheus Bound by Peter Paul Rubens
When my wife and I first arrived at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville (MOCA) I honestly had no idea what to expect. I had been to the Cummer Museum, but never here and I wasn't sure what to expect or what piece of art I was going to write my paper on. I thought I might want to do my paper on a sculpture because I tend to like that kind of art, but I wasn't sure. I figured we would walk around and whatever spoke to me the loudest would be what I wrote my paper on. I hadn't expected to be spoken too so frequently and so loudly and by some my different art forms so after forty-five minutes I was no closers to my topic than I was when we first came arrived.