M: MoMA

On a family trip to New York City in December, I finally got to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This was like being on inspirational crack. Unfortunately we didn’t get into the Van Gogh exhibit, although there were still some images of his in the permanent collection. We stood in line for a long time in the cold December wind, but I thought it was well worth the effort.

It’s hard to decide what work made the greatest impact on me. There were so many painting, sculptures, and photographs from so many great artists in a wide variety of genres. I saw, for the first time, paintings that I had only seen as small pictures in art books. One in particular, a Roy Lichtenstein painting, became art for me after seeing it in person. Until that time, I had only seen his work in photographs. I didn’t understand why it was regarded as art, after all it was only a blown up comic book. Seeing his painting in person, I began to appreciate the technique and creative inspiration that made it significant.

There was an interesting exhibit of design work, which incorporated print and the design of everyday objects. Some things are functional and beautiful.

I particularly enjoyed going through the galleries where you get the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the most significant pieces of art in world history. The Dali was amazingly small in scale, while the Picasso’s bowl you over with their size. I was comforted by Andrew Wyeth’s Christine’s World as I entered the painting gallery. Marcell Duchamp was amazingly creative and the paintings of Matisse and Gauguin made me want to run away back to Hawaii (the closest I’ve gotten to Tahiti). There were so many images and I was exhausted when I finished.