Washington D.C. Smithsonian Art Trip – May 14 through May 16th, 2010

After enduring a long train ride, some thirteen (13) hours from Atlanta, into our Nations Capitol, Washington, D.C. My colleagues and I finally arrived at our destinations and the Smithsonian Museums. After a brief tour of Union Station our official guide, Dr. Collette Hopkins set us on our own to explore as we saw fit. I made a last minute decision to see the East Building of the National Gallery of Art although I had thought that the Portrait Gallery would be my first stop. Let me say at this point, that, as I now reflect on the totality of our whole trip, I feel a bit disappointed and indeed, even cheated in that we spent twenty-six hours on a train and only six hours exploring museums and discovering great works of art. In my estimation, it would have been wiser to fly into the city and then spend two days visiting museums. Given the sheer size of the Smithsonian, it really is a necessity that you have more than a day to see the many buildings and museums.

Getting back to the National Gallery though, I found a lot of interesting art works to speak about. There were many Galleries that a person could walk through and some of the Galleries even permitted the taking of photos. Others, and unfortunately for me, those that I found the most connection with did not permit photography. Still, overall it was a very impressionable and eye opening experience. The East wing contained art from approximately 1600 through the twentieth century. I was pleased to be able to see in person so to speak, paintings by Van Gogh - Self Portrait and Claude Monet – Woman with a Parasol which is found as a reference in one of the lessons as a part of the Silver Burdett World of Music Grade One Music Books. I gained quite a “rush” knowing that I was standing in front of a picture that was painted by one of the Masters.

All aside, however, I got the biggest surprise from a Gallery and artists that I had never heard of. It was the Spanish Gallery called The Sacred Made Real. Here I found real life size statues carved from wood with absolutely breathtaking detail. The focus of all of these works of art were religious or sacred in nature. What I found so moving about this Gallery was the realism of each of the works. Right down to the tear drops and blood. No detail was left out by the artist. As Blake Gopnik describes it in his review on February 28, 2010, “"The Sacred Made Real" gives us an important push away from our modern tendency to value painting over any other medium. Well into the Middle Ages and beyond, painting was the poor stepchild of deluxe, more durable materials such as tapestry or metal or marble. In 17th-century Spain, the balance had already shifted to make 3-D and 2-D art about equal, but while Spanish painters such as Diego Velazquez and Francisco de Zurbaran are now famous figures, before this show, their sculptor colleagues have never got equal time”.

Probably, the most moving piece in my mind was Christ after the Flagellation Contemplated by the Christian Soul, ca. 1628-1629, and also the Sculpture by, Gregorio Fernández (1576–1636) Ecce Homo and an unknown painter before 1621 which was or is painted wood, glass and cloth. [Christ, having been bound, whipped, and mocked by soldiers, was presented by Pontius Pilate to the Jews with the words "Ecce homo" ("Behold, the man")]. (I am going to attempt to place a picture of both of these on this blog). I recommend anyone reading this to check out this website for more detailed views of what is in this extraordinary collection.

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2010/sacred/slideshow/index.shtm#

While the above mention works were among the most moving for me I found that all of the paintings and sculptures that I saw in this Gallery were more moving to me than what I had seen in the other Galleries, and, as I left, I felt an overwhelming sense of emotion that I largely attributed to my Catholic Upbringing. Many of these works have not been seen outside of Spain as they have been largely on display in the Churches in Spain that they were originally created for. Overall, the trip to D.C. had a great deal of meaning for me and I hope to go back again soon to see the museums.