1133 days ago
My cousin wanted also to see the Van Gogh drawings exhibition at the Met. As I managed to see only part of the ground floor on Wednesday we went back to the museum. No bridge crossing on foot, as we managed to get in the car of a Colombian guy looking for the extra 3 passengers. At the museum we met Jane - a Jewish Tibetan Buddhist friend of his, a really lovely lady actually. As we were carrying food with us (the Museum cafeteria wasn't cheap at all) we got stopped at security and had to get permission from the supervisor to check it in. I managed to keep the chocolate and juice though.
I was there from about 11:30 up to 5:15pm. We started off with the Fra Angelico exhibition, works from the whole period of his life, gathered from all around the world. Once again I realized an exhibition is the best way to have a global view of an artist's evolution. If not, you see 5 paintings here, and 3 there five years later. Plus there were works by Benozzo Gozzoli and a few other painters for us to see the environment and the followers. I knew Michelangelo admired Fra Angelico a lot.
We followed with Van Gogh, first with Ruisdael, Hokusai, Millet and other artists that influenced his style. Then on to the drawings, following all his steps, from the times when he started, while a minister in a mining town in Belgium, until the very end, in the asylum. Dark, tired workers, colourful boats and fields, starry nights and the view from the hospital, its corridors...so painful. Van Gogh is my favourite painter since I was 20 and he still is. I am a very tormented person, with lots of ups and downs, jumping from enthusiasm to apathy and depression. I FEEL his paintings inside, his look for the inside light that never turns off.
A brief respiro occasioned by a fashion exhibition, the outfits of some rich new-yorker, that could afford vintage Indian and Afghan jewelry and clothes Lacroix, Chanel, YSL and the kind. She liked colourful ethno clothing, which I prefer too.
I wanted to show my cousin the exhibition about medicine in ancient Egypt and I met my Hindu friend B. exactly in the same spot like the day before. We agreed to meet upon museum's closing time and go for another coffee.
We had a snack on a museum's bench then Nicu and Jane decided to go. Jane gave me her phone number, for when I might be back.
I wanted to go see the Modern section and maybe Asian, if time allowed. First I dropped by the Dutch painters (I call them "painters of light" as none is as good ad they are at it). There were not as many landscapes as I expected, but a lot of Rembrandt and some Vermeer, one featured in the "Girl with the Pearl Earring". Of course all tourists were taking pictures of this one
So there I was, not alone, but surrounded by my old friends Rodin, Renoir, more Van Gogh (bought a poster of a simply stunning sunflowers image), Degas, Monet, Cezanne. I was roaming through the rooms, feeling I cannot get enough of it, going back to see them once more (a young lady in blue by Renoir, the Van Gogh) Downstairs I bumped into one of my Dali favourites: The Hypercube, featured even on this very site. Unexpected encounter, I was so happy about it. Some Picasso's too from his early times, Joan Miro.
The Asian section was closed for whatever reason and time was running short anyway. I met B. and we went to a Starbucks in the West Side of Central Park. I had an Eggnogg (Hen Milk in French and Romanian) then said good bye to my new friend and headed towards South to meet my cousin.
His girlfriend showed up (curious about the mysterious female cousin visitor - a pretty tall American with a Polish background - blond long hair and blue eyes. We felt like having a drink so we went for a Pomegranate (her) and Hibiscus (me) Margaritas at Rosa Mexicano, across from the Metropolitan Opera House. She's a resident doctor, to become a surgeon in Morristown, New Jersey.
My cousin wanted to go back to her place as it was dark, the Margarita was strong and she wears glasses. So I ended up on a sofa this time, to make a difference to the air beds that hosted me at my cousin's place and Michael's. We took the train back to NY in the morning, and there was no more strike.
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