MEETING GREAT MINDS
11:30AM
Metropolitan Museum, New York City
Getting to know the greats and wanting to be great again. I made a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of New York and met Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, and many more. But honestly, I came here because I wanted to recreate photos BTS made here. And I was successful with that. I am glad though that I took so much more than great photos.
Having seen artifacts older than Jesus and works of art by great painters and sculptors, I can’t help but try to decipher what inspired them to make their works of art. What must have gone through their minds? Did they do this because they have to make a living? Or was it always joyful for them? I can’t help but ask these questions as I tend to overthink these things.
Rembrandt made so many portraits of so many important personalities in his time that I can’t help but think if it was purely a livelihood for him. Did he love his subjects as much as he love his painting? What were his criteria in picking who to pick? The amount of detail is amazing too. I wonder how long it took him to make his paintings.
Monet has a few pieces that I like. The ones that are more detailed than the others, I specifically like. I can almost feel how he is feeling when making his pieces. Some he was more impatient than the others. He does love the pop of colors and sticks with emphasizing color to bring his paintings to life.
Van Gogh just sweeps you up with his strokes. It almost feels like music on canvass. He has a way of moving you with his brushstrokes like how music does when it progresses.
Sanford Gifford’s. A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove) is one of the most powerful landscape paintings I have seen. He has a way of using light as a focal point of his painting that actually draws people to it. This particular painting is a personal favorite with how he paints the sun’s light hitting a slope between mountains. Like a magnet, it just simply draws you closer. I spent a considerable amount of time with this masterpiece as it just didn’t allow me to move on. It’s like watching a sunrise. You never want it to end.
Biersradt’s Study of Native American Leaders Made at Fort Laramie also piqued my interest. I am a lover of portraits as I do a few myself. This study/sketch of different native American leaders may have been used for his major paintings. The sketch just showed the lines of experience, resolve, and wisdom on their faces. I prefer sketches and studies more than actual portraits/paintings. It feels like a raw demo of a song/music or an unedited photo. It is real. I note that I am looking for honesty these days. It is a value that is very important to me as I want to be truly honest to myself and to others.
Maximilien Luce’s Morning Interior is my favorite pointillism piece. It is a painting of his close friend and fellow painter GustavePerrot preparing in the morning as light streams through the garret window. A mundane task comes to life with the perfect execution of his preferred method. I have great respect for artists who do this method as this requires so much love, patience, and time. I remember my pointillism pieces back in college frustrated me to no end.
The Storm by Pierre Agust Cot depicted lovers running to seek shelter from the rain or storm. It was curious how the man was half-naked and the woman wearing wispy see-through clothing while they were running away. Were they doing their business when it started to rain? Or did someone see them so they decided to run away? I make up stories when I watch these paintings apart from thinking of the painter’s methodology. I wonder what stories they wanted to tell. Cot’s interpretation of this piece seems to be sexual to me. This is another point of interest for me - how men or painters were always inspired by women, sex, or love. It is almost hard to differentiate one from the other.
I went to the Korean gallery to look for the spot where BTS took photos and managed to take a photo of the ancient jade flute that Suga was studying in his photo. I had loads of fun recreating the photo but I came across Chung Haecho’s Rhythm of the Five Color Luster. There was a video too showing the ancient process of the lacquer finished pieces. This set is of different colors which represented the cardinal directions and the five elements that are the basis of East Asian cosmology. White for west/metal, black for north/water, yellow for center/earth, red for south/fire, and blue for east/wood. A modern take on an ancient methodology. I thought it would be fun to do. Maybe I will have an opportunity to learn that someday.
I hope that my kids take interest in the arts, in how feelings were put into these - lovingly, with anguish, in sadness. Access to arts and to the artists’ feelings and way of thinking when making their masterpieces give us access to our own feelings and thoughts too.
I am glad I visited the MET and took the time to meet great minds. I took so much from that visit even if I still considered my time recreating the “SUGA photos” the highlight of that trip.
