art art and more art

Well I could probably do several posts on the art we saw in the Netherlands - the don't call them the Dutch Masters for nothing... but I will spare you the blow by blow and try to just give you an overview and "tasting menu" -

These are just a few of the amazing things we saw in the Rijksmuseum -

I found this dog so appealing I took a photo of him nearly twenty years ago when I first visited the Rijksmuseum - oddly despite the fact that I am twenty years older (19 to be exact) he has not changed a bit!

but on to the museum itself-

we did the second floor first and then worked our way down stairs to the newer eras---

the rendering of the lace and gold embroidery is magnificent!

the hand and its shadow - the very essence of aesthetic arrest for me- the details of these massive paintings are what awes me...

 

I love this best of all marriage portraits because they actually seem to be happy!

maybe the celebrated with oysters from a nearby painting?

the crowds in front of Vermeer's milkmaid - even the Girl with the Pearl Earring or the Goldfinch caused this Mona Lisa like phenomenon...

 

even in the museum it is spargle season!

here is an interesting idea- we could certainly use these in our airports and shopping malls and museums etc...

so at this point I will leave the Rijksmuseum and go on to the nearby Van Gogh...

there are no photos inside the museum so here are some from the walk between the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum- a parade of bunnies---

the brochure and tickets-

and a postcard I bought of a cool Van Gogh I was not familiar with- he used sand in the mixture of the paint of the sea and sky-

I don't think this shows as well as on the picture - wish I could have taken a close up- but the little specks are actually grains of sand!

we still have the Hermitage Amsterdam to cover and a couple of magnificent meals- so come on back - there's more.....always more-

TMA the Toledo Museum of Art

Over the years both Phil and I had noticed that when we went to any exhibition that was one of those "big event, huge draw" art museum type exhibits that there was always something on loan from the Toledo Museum of Art.  So being that we were a mere 60 miles away in Detroit, we decided to trek on down to Toledo and see their collection as well....

we arrived just before dinner time and located a suitable - if less than stellar place for dinner (kind of a dearth of choices even using Yelp and Trip Advisor) and we had just had BBQ at L. Woods before we left Chicago as well as ribs at CBGBs on Saturday but -whatever..... the food was decent and the service friendly-

the next day we headed directly to the museum because the number one rated place to eat per Trip Advisor was the Museum Cafe - so we started with lunch before heading to view the collections-

the food was excellent - Phil had a salmon sandwich and I had a combo turkey wrap and chicken salad -

The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio, United States. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey in 1901, and moved to its current location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter in 1912. The building was expanded twice in the 1920s and 1930s 

The museum contains major collections of glass art of the 19th and 20th century, European and American art, as well as small but distinguished Renaissance, Greek and Roman, and Japanese collections. Notable individual works include Peter Paul Rubens's The Crowning of Saint Catherine, significant minor works by Rembrandt and El Greco, and modern works by Willem de Kooning, Henry Moore, and Sol LeWitt, as well as Fragonard's Blind Man's Bluff.

A concert hall within the east wing, the Peristyle, is built in a classical style to match the museum's exterior. The hall is the principal concert space for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. (source Wikipedia)

after lunch we went through the museum - leaving from the restaurant on the lower level we did those rooms first- and then moved upstairs to the main level-

they had a special exhibit of civil rights photos-

a long hall of paintings and drawings from a variety of artists keeping to specific themes (games, outdoors, work etc.)

A Miro tile work on the ground floor center hall-

then upstairs to some incredibly eclectic more modern art, Egyptian and Greek and Roman - a stop at the theater (home of the symphony) and then on to the European and American art collections -

 

 the theater has an amazing ceiling that is sky-like and changes colors

the same piece different angle-

now on to the meat of the collection-

we thoroughly enjoyed the visit and will return again- probably on the 2015 road trip to Pittsburgh (Pirates and Falling Water) Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) back via Toledo with pizza in DTW at Buddy's!!!

it is all falling into place early on that one.... so you can note it on your calendars for next summer- LOL!