Art Adventure: Monet

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have the tendency to get a little turned around when traveling somewhere new. Of course my trip last month was no different. The goal of the day was to go enjoy an afternoon of art in Buffalo for the last weekend of the Monet and the Impressionist Revolution exhibit at the Albright-Knox museum. Well, the directions that I had had cut off a very important turn and up I was just about to cross the border into Canada. I figured since I was that close already, I might as well see Niagra Falls. The last time I had been there was when I was five years old and I don’t have too many memories of that trip.
The view was well worth the detour. I was a chilly March day so there were only a few people walking around the park. I was able to have a nice walk along the American side and capture a few pictures before I continued on my way to the museum.

I finally made it to the museum and was able to secure one of the last tickets to the last viewing of the exhibit.
Since I had a little time to wait I wandered around the rest of the museum. I was impressed by some of the more famous paintings that were in their permanent collection – such as an enormous Rothko and a Frida Kahlo.

One of my favorite exhibits in the museum was a still life set up in a common area with several chairs set around it with the instructions to draw a piece of art inspired by the objects in the still life. It was so much fun to watch people of all ages and skill levels come and create. The quick sketch I drew is to the right.

Finally it was my turn to enter the special exhibit. Being that this is a fairly small art museum, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was amazed by the exhibit and definitely not disappointed! Of course they didn’t allow photography in the exhibit itself – which is always a bummer.

The exhibit started with many of the early plein air painters of the late eighteenth century and continued through the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. It was really interesting to see the progression of the styles between the time periods and artists. The number of recognizable paintings just estounded me! Works such as “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande-Jatte” by Georges Seurat, “Paris Street, rainy day” by Gustave Caillebotte. An Auguste Rodin sculpture. Two Degas paintings and one of his bronze dancers! Paul Signac, Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet – the list goes on. There was even a van Gogh painting that I had never heard of before but instantly fell in love with (The Old Mill). I think I was less impressed by the Monet pieces that were in the show than by all the other impressionsists and post-impressionists pieces that I saw. There were still some impressive paintings – one of the waterlilies paintings and one of the winter haystacks were my favorites there – but my love for seeing all of my favorite artists within the same exhibit very much overshadowed everything.
I went on the last viewing on the last day, so unfortunately I can’t recommend that you go see the exhibit. I will however be keeping the Albright-Knox on my radar for when looking for art exhibits to visit in the future.

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