Van Gogh has been my favorite "modern" artist for a long time--though lately Matisse has been giving him a run for the money. So I was looking forward to this exhibition, despite that the drawings would not have van Gogh's colors, which is one of the main things that makes me like his work so much. There were a few paintings in the exhibition for comparison, however.
Van Gogh worked very quickly. He did over 1,100 drawings in his slightly over 10 year career as an artist, which did not start until he was in his late 20's. He was largely self-taught, and it was interesting to see his development with the chronological display of his works. The most interesting thing to me, though, was when he did drawings after finishing a painting. Most artists use drawings only as preparation for the painting, but van Gogh frequently did them afterwards, as a means of showing people in other cities what he had just done. This was long before the days of faxes, scanners and digital cameras. Often he would send off drawings to a number of people--but the drawings did not always look the same. He varied them depending on the recipient. What he sent to his brother would not match what he sent to a possible patron. He also sometimes wrote in the colors he used, especially when writing his brother--it reminded me of the Paint-By-Numbers kits of my childhood.
I enjoyed the exhibition, though I must admit I spent more time looking at the few paintings than at most of the drawings. It was worth getting out early for it.
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After the van Gogh we were hungry so we went down to the new cafeteria in the basement. While it is a strictly utilitarian space, unlike the beautiful cafeteria/restaurant/bar the Met used to have, the food was much, much better. But it wasn't cheap. The salad bar is $9.60/lb.
After lunch we did the obligatory stops in the restrooms. As usual I finished first, so I wandered into the mini-gift shop conveniently located nearby. I got a very nice CD (that's compact disk in this context), called "Painters in Paris," a Museum Music compilation that was created as a "companion" to the Painters in Paris: 1895-1950 exhibition. I was really interested in the two Josephine Baker songs. I had seen silent movies of her, but I had never heard a recording. It turns out her voice was quite different than I imagined--much lower-pitched.
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That evening we went and saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was cute, though I'm not sure I like the new Dumbledore. I guess the death of a sympathetic character necessitated the PG-13 rating.
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