Impressions

I went to the de Young Museum to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibition last Saturday. It was really fantastic. It clearly shows the historical context that formed the Impressionist Art movement. And the art was amazing.

It's not just about Monet's Saint-Lazare Station or Degas' Dancing Lesson or Manet's Fifer or Whistler's Mother. If you only want to see famous Impressionist art go to Chicago; the d'Orsay show tells a story.

One painting moved me so much I almost cried. It created such an intense emotional response in me that I had to look away. The painting was Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran's The Woman with the Glove.

I cannot explain why I was so affected, something about the way the eyes were painted mesmerized me. They were so full of emotion. It looked to me like there was sorrow in her eyes and I thought that the subject might be in mourning but I don't really know.

What I do know is that this has only happened to me one time before in my life (when I walked in to the Galeria dell'Academia in Florence where you can see Michaelaglo's David). It's a real phenomenon, feeling overwhelmed with emotion while viewing art, and it reminds me why I love what I do.

Book Recommendation of the Day:

Ross King's "The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave The World Impressionism"

Eric just picked this up from the library (inspired to learn more after going to the museum last weekend) and I am going to read it when he is finished. This is the same author who wrote "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" which gives a great account of the painting of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

I am more of a mindless fiction reader but from time to time I like to get informed.