MoMA, New York City - miscellaneous art

Laura and  I really loved the 5th floor with the impressionists, post impressionists, cubists and surrealists. It was amazing to see Van Gohn’s Starry Nights, Matisse’s dancers and Salvador Dali’s clocks and so much more. I loved the Klee, Chagall and Klimt.  Then the Picabia exhibit was incredible, seeing the life of a great artists works through his various periods. The psychedelic art of the 60’s was simply wild with Warhol and flashbacks.
But that was only a bit of the whole of MoMA, a couple of floors. There were 6 floors and performance exhibits and photography and just a whole lot of art. I came round a corner and damn there was Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World.  Everywhere there was iconic art.  But also there was this exhibit of Russian art before Stalin.  Stalin introduced the ‘socialist realism’ and that’s all I’d really seen, these plump propaganda peasants. But here at this exhibit was the whole of the really creative  constructionist period of art when Russians were being original.  No doubt a lot ended in the Gulags as a result.  But it was an experience to see a whole era of art I wasn’t aware of.
There was also an exhibit of Lovers and another of the work of a variety of photographers. There was Nan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependencies”, posters,  book covers and spiritualism.  And much more.  Laura and I walked through looking and commenting and generally having an extraordinary time.
We met a delightful member of the gallery, a 72 yo gorgeous lithe creature wearing a red scarf,  doing a survey for MoMA. Laura loved her and we talked  of art, travel and love like old friends though we were strangers who’d just met.  What a delight.  Something in the space and experience of MoMA makes for such possibilities.
Lounge areas and cafes, with spacious washrooms on every floor as well.  The whole layout and design of the building  made the museum one of the most enjoyable experiences.  Lightness of being came to mind.  Uplifting and a celebration of human achievement.
Thank you MoMA!

MoMA, NYC - the collection galleries - the 1960's

I didn’t get many pictures of this floor. I was jonesing and having flashbacks. There were whole psychedelic rooms that I would have loved to have dropped acid in.  Today I walked through thinking, “that was wild.”  Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon.  I survived that or maybe I’m still on a trip or this is an asylum and the leadership really are as insane as they often appear. The MoMA obviously got it right.  I was glad to escape. It was all I could do not to jump in the Jaguar and ‘head on down the highway’ on a ‘magic carpet ride’. Strawberry Fields, here I come!

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York - Picabia Exhibit

We were fortunate to be at MoMA when they were having an exhibit of avant garde Francis Picabia, one of the early DADA movement.  DADA was a response to war and challenged all the ideas that went before it.  Picabia began as an impressionist but offended because he painted from a picture.  This apparently upset Pisarro no end.  Purism and all that among the already outrageous.  I’ve loved over the years learning bits and pieces about these wonderfully eccentric characters who not only produced great works but got along and squabbled with each other.
The Picabia exhibit was terrific if only because, 1) I didn’t know of him 2) his whole life was represented showing his growth and versatility. He began with impressionism then moved onto cubism.  Then eclecticism.   I loved most his ‘transparencies’ where he juxtaposed images.  All of it was great.  Just a joy to walk through a great art gallery looking at a masterful presentation of a great work
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