There’s something about the museum experience in Europe that is always different for me than any other museum experience in the world. Sure, part of it is the age and the seriousness of the history that hits you in the face, but there’s more.
We have some serious art in a handful of American museums and yet the experience isn’t the same partly because you’re not viewing the pieces in their historical ‘frame.’ The building, the people, the energy in the air. None of it exists despite how old the pieces are that hang on its young American walls.
Visiting museums and visiting them often is also not encouraged in the same way it is in Europe. When I lived in Amsterdam, I had a regular pass to get into all the art museums whenever I liked.
It was so inexpensive that I didn’t have to think about it….for a moment. A fleeting moment. That’s what you want when you want to not just encourage cultural and historical learning, but seed it again and again so it remains with you like a sledgehammer.
The sledgehammer impact is what makes art embedded in a European’s life, why they take it more seriously and why it matters to visit the buildings that house such wondrous pieces, not just once, but again and again.
The Hermitage and Le Louvre are two experiences that linger; they stay with you throughout your life. While I’ve only been to the former once, I tend to make a stop to Le Louvre nearly every time I go to Paris if time allows.
Why? Because the experience matters; its one that draws me in and lingers like an incredible dish that took two weeks to prepare and you still relish twenty years later.
The way I look at art has also changed over the years. We start with what is perfect, as seen by the world. For example, the Impressionists – who doesn’t love them? Old Dutch friends used to joke with me that Impressionism was the only period that Americans loved or could resonate with, equating their taste to a popular northern California oaky chardonnay.
Sure, oak and butter in your chard is fabulous indeed, and Kistler remains my favorite. But, what about the more complex choices, where you have to dig for the layers, the layers behind and beyond that take years of tasting, looking, seeing and hearing to truly appreciate?
And so, our tastes change.
What I noticed about this trip was my obsession with paintings from the 1400s and 1500s.
I paid attention to the way the men and women exchanged their love and their duties among each other. To the way children were portrayed. To the colors they used. To the animals that were included or not and when. To the vibrancy of the food. The clothing. The lack of clothing. All of it. Take this one for example….look at the way she looks at him.
Pietro Berrettini dit Pierre de Cortone painted around 1643
A handful of other favorites I spent time with:
Giovanni Battista di Jacopo dit Rosso fior enino painted between 1530 and 1540
Florence around 1483 by Alessandro Filipepi dit Botticelli
Louis (ou Antoine) LE NAIN: La Forge
Antonio Puccio dit Pisanello: Portrait D’Une Jeune Princess, painted between 1435 and 1440
Bernardo Strozzi: Portrait De Jeune Homme around 1635
Ecle Espagnole: La Dame Aux Penses – she was more intense than she may look here
LOVED the energy in this one…
I’ve always been mesmorized by the Giuseppe Arcimboldo series: L’automne, Le Printemps, L’Hiver and L’Ete painted around 1573.
Jacques-Louis David: Madame Charles-Louis Trudaine around 1791-1792
Ippolito Andreasi dit Landreasino
Part of a much larger piece: romantic, soft, dreamy
And, in all its intensity: Atelier De Giotto: La Crucifixion
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
