Recently, I visited the Guggenheim Museum in New York City to see the Vasily Kandinsky exhibition. It’s on 5th Avenue in the 80’s on Museum Row where there are other museums and galleries. The Guggenheim is a cool place to visit in itself and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Outside and inside, the walls of the building twist around and around, floor to floor, as you view the paintings. It’s visually stunning. From the inside lobby you can see the ceiling and each floor circumscribes the space going all the way up. People can be seen moving around and up as they step back to view the art, some lean on the wall or hang over. Cool, weird and scary all at once.
This was my latest and longest Artist’s Date. The point of it is to go alone and be in the moment without distraction from a side-kick. As soon as you invite a friend along, the magic spell is broken. It’s no longer a play date with your inner child artist. You know how the other person always wants to go this way and you want to go the other?
Going alone insures you do what you want, when you want, and how. Since I’m the type that likes “alone” it’s perfect! I took mass transit to get there, which was wonderful and clean. I wish I had taken photos of the subway stations because each stop has it’s own flavor of mosaic tile designs on the walls. Next time. The weather was comfortably cool so I wasn’t dragging a winter coat around the museum.
With the $18 price of admission, I had the opportunity to use the headset with taped information on Kandinsky’s life and each painting in the show. The massive exhibit was very extensive with work from Kandinsky’s early years to his very last painting.
The symbolism he used told the story of life in Russia and other places he lived, his spirituality and connection of color to classical music. Very intense, bright color ruled most of his work in which he liked to abstract forms.
As he progressed in life his work became slightly more minimal, but color, form and symbolism reigned none-the-less. It was all so interesting I took notes, and I’m out of school a long time. Overall, this was a great Artist’s Date. I can’t wait for the next museum trip!
