Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter aesthetic odyssey

"That's right I'm a woman and an artist in
eighteenth-century France - suck it, sexists."
I decided to slack off on all my household chores for a little bit and just enjoy my new neighborhood and its proximity to great places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I was excited to go to the Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun exhibit. I'd seen her work in art books but never in-person. Her self portrait is especially impressive.

Forbidden photo!
You can't take photos in the museum though, which is silly in my opinion. I snuck one anyway - one of the smaller exhibit rooms in the Greco-Roman section had fewer guards than others and so I got a quick pic. Like anybody cares.



I got a picture of myself while I was at it, wearing the traditional Easter black.

Unfortunately a guy I dated very briefly a year ago works at the Met and as luck would have it he was taking a shift today. Fortunately I saw him first, and was able to watch out and ensure I didn't run into him. Although maybe he would not have remembered me, who knows. But just in case.



The exterior of the museum, which you can take photos of, is a Greco-Roman work of art itself. In fact I had never noticed all the heads along the top before. You don't notice them at a casual glance but I happened to look out the window from the Greco-Roman gallery and noticed them. What a bizarre architectural style. I don't think they did this for the Parthenon.

Decorative heads!

Vigee Le Brun and the Classical world were the only two exhibits I visited - and even they had so much to see I couldn't take in everything. I enjoyed the Greek red-figure vase paintings, as always, but they didn't have any of the obscene ones on display, like these.

Then I headed out to the Conservatory Garden - I hadn't been there for almost four years. It was pretty much the same, although I'd never been there this early in the spring.

The English garden


The French garden
And then I walked home - I was excited that I could walk from the Conservatory garden which is across the park and twenty blocks north of my apartment. I got a great shot of the Garden from far away and high up.

But what is that giant building looming above the Garden? It's the Terrence Cardinal Cook Health Care Center.