The J. Paul Getty Museum

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

Upon entering the room, visitors’ eyes dart to that mysteriously empty frame centered on the opposite wall. In such a painstakingly designed museum, this frame looks out of place. On these walls hang the memoirs of revered artists, but the empty frames scattered throughout remember something more tragic: the largest property theft in world history (Menconi, 2012). Head of security at the Gardner, Anthony Amore, refers to these empty frames as “placeholders, not memorials” and urges visitors to see them as a “testament” to their belief that they will reacquire the stolen paintings someday (Menconi, 2012). Whether they do or not, the 1990 Gardner theft greatly impacted

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.

It must have been 13 years or so since I have been to the art museum, back in elementary school, on a one of a kind field trip. 13 years is way too long to have been away from the art museum, as my experience this year reminded me that. It was a beautiful, sunny October day, although it felt like July, and it was an even better day to talk a walk through the vast, mesmerizing pieces of art that the museum has to offer. The North Carolina Museum of Art provides an abundance of artwork from various time periods, cultures, and one can find art anywhere from Egyptian, to classical, to modern and contemporary art. The artwork that the museum provides not only displays an abundance of artwork, but

The Carnegie Museum of Art was a museum created to focus on the art of tomorrow rather than already popular art and artists of today. A necessary part for that dream of Andrew Carnegie to become a reality is having a place to house these art pieces. While of course he could have just found an empty warehouse and placed all the art there that would neither have given the pieces of art justice nor would anyone want there personal collection to be placed on display there. Instead, in order to have a successful art museum you have to house the art in a place that does it justice. Museums heavily rely on their architecture to accurately portray and supplement the showpieces within the museum. Carnegie’s art museum

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.

During our visit to the El Paso Museum of Art, our docent (insert name) took us on a tour of their current exhibitions: Robert Delaunay and Albert Gleizes: The School of Paris from Modern Master Series: Highlights from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Immaculate Conception, Amplified Abstraction, and Modern Stone Totems. In addition to our expedition we observed art of Mexico and New Spain that showcased 17th and 19th century paintings and sculptures. European art with includes paintings and sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. As well as, early American art from the 19th century to the mid 20th century.

Perhaps illness so influenced the artistic style of Van Gogh, but the picture turned out completely different to all that the artist wrote so far. This is not a Van Gogh, who was known. In the canvas, there is tension, anxiety, dense colors and warm shades of olive-mustard. On the contrary, here there is some kind of lightness, airiness, and transparent weightlessness. On the manner of execution, the pattern resembles Japanese prints: iris field full of peace, a lightness, and transparency. "Irises" are simple and unique, they are striking in their serenity and the ability to remove the internal stress of everyone who saw at least reproduction. Painting simply breathes watercolor, translucency and make to look at it more than one hour.

Three weeks ago I visited the Art Institute of Chicago. It was established in 1879 and has since expanded its collection to approximately three hundred thousand works. Attracting over one and a half million visitors annually, it is one of the largest art museums in the United States. The reason I chose this site is that I read that it displayed Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and I wanted to see it in person because it is so iconic.

On a trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, my boyfriend, David, and I strolled through the museum while I, being an art history major, recited to him all that I knew about certain pieces. We observed sculptures by Auguste Rodin, works painted by Georgia O’Keeffe, and busts of Roman leaders. David was enjoying all the artwork until we reached the Contemporary art gallery upon where viewing Mark Rothko’s Untitled No. 11 made in 1963, he shook his head in anger at what he thought was a painting far from a masterpiece. His comment was one I’m sure many have said about this particular piece and many other modern pieces of art, “I could have painted that.” I couldn’t help to reply, “Yeah, but you didn’t.” David’s sudden reaction upon viewing the

Aside from the Brooklyn Museum, the only museum I had been to in the last four years would be the Met Breuer. As I was instructed to visit the Diane Arbus exhibit at the Met Breuer, I imagined the same type of scenery any museum would look like; high ceiling, large frames, and a collection of detailed and colorful work. It occurred to my surprise when instead I saw an identical collection of same sized frames, of just people, in what seemed to be black and white. As I took a deeper glance, I noticed almost none of the people photographed were smiling. It appeared that they were candid photos, yet they all looked directly at the camera. Arbus’ photos were drawn to unusual public places and scenery in black and white with some surreal contrast portraits. I noticed the raw images of peculiar people often brought focus on those who may be the outliers of their society; transgender, dwarfs, nudists, circus clowns, and even children. There were various particular themes that struck a chord with me, however, among the many images I came across during my search, I found Arbus’ portraits on transgender people provoke the most emotion and intrigue. The wide variety of each portrait as well as the ways she chose to portray them told a story of both lives and culture within her lifetime. Being particularly interested on transgender people, I was captivated with the complexities of her work and the way that she transcended so many boundaries which constantly had me question the theme she

The Cleveland Art Museum is a prominent art gallery that is found Cleveland, Ohio. This museum from the states carries a large array of artwork (paintings, drawings, photographs, sketches, sculptures, etc). Though, these works of art do not focus primarily on one time period. This particular museum holds creations that stem all the way back to Ancient Egypt. From this particular art gallery (that can also be found online), a work of art from this gallery will be looked at. However, there will be a certain specification. The reason behind this specification is based around the book Tender Is The Night. Being one of Scott Fitzgerald’s outstanding books, this novel was set in the early 1930’s. Hence, I will be focusing on a painting made/done in the early 1930’s.

The Art pieces that I pick was from the Ancient Egyptian Galleries. The art piece is a little unconventional but I think it a piece of work. I choose the Mummy of Nesmin. The artist who did the mummification is unknown. Nesmin was a priest for the fertility god Min and Khonsu. Nesmin had duties that include cleaning the shrine, to offering clothing and sacrifices to the Mini statue. I believe that this is a piece of art because of the time and practice that was put into the mummification. According to the RSID museum that the black resin on the wrappings on Nesmin’s body was some type of molten resin that was commonly used during the time before wrapping the body in a lien. Not only do I think preparing a body like that is some type of artwork.

After getting over my initial reluctance, I got butterflies in my stomach. This was only the 2nd time I’d been to an art museum, so I wanted to make the most of it. When we first arrived, we looked around at some paintings. I visited an exclusive temporary exhibit of Edvard Munch which included a surprising amount of paintings of naked women. Nothing caught my eye in the first few galleries, but then I stumbled on an exhibit called “In Character” by Nam June Paik. As soon as I walked in, I got embarrassingly excited. I constantly had to stop myself from running around the museum like a madman. All the TV sculptures and simple, childlike drawings had been just so incredible to me. The piece that I really enjoyed the most was a sculpture called “Self-Portrait.”