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Went to the LACMA yesterday, to see the French Masters exhibit: 76 paintings on loan from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. I had no idea Russians were such avid collectors. They have more French art than anyone outside of France. Catherine the Great began collecting fine works ~150 years ago. Wealthy aristocrats followed suit and built their own, private collections. With the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, all that private art became property of the state. Literally overnight, the state possessed a collection of first-class French art rivaling any in the world. For a few extra dollars, I recommend you rent an audio guide, consisting of a mini-digital player and headset. Many of the paintings have numbers beside them. Simply enter this 3-digit number on the keypad and press the green 'Play' button. You'll hear a brief description of the painting, its subject(s) and history. I can't begin to explain how impressive this collection is. Remember all those names you heard in Humanities class? and read about in art books? .. like Matisse, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Degas, Van Gogh and Picasso .. well, they're all there. Personally, I enjoy paintings by Renoir the best. Not sure why. They give me a feel for that period of time. Those by Van Gogh seem to have the most 'presence' .. maybe because I'm such a fan of Vincent, and have studied his life. Docent tours are also available, but there's such a large crowd of people following them around, that you can't get near the paintings they discuss. And some of the ladies in those crowds wear way too much perfume. Lighten up, ladies. We also saw the Modigliani exhibit. It was cool, but nothing like the Pushkin exhibit. Modigliani, like many artists of that era, lived poor and died young (36 or 37). He drank and took drugs (which included smoking hash). A friend of mine has a theory that most artists have serious psychological/mental problems. The Pushkin exhibit will be here until October 13. .. before returning to Moscow. If you live in SoCal, don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. |
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