When we arrived at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts we had literally just pulled into the parking garage when we spotted our friends, Ed and Janis across from an open parking space. They had just arrived as well! Perfect timing!
This is The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The area shaded in blue is under construction and when it opens it will give the museum more room to display works that currently sit in storage.
We walked together into the museum, picked up our tickets and went straight to the exhibit, “Spanish Art during the Reign of Philip III: El Greco to Velazquez” Already the crowds were thick, but seeing as I have been trained by my dackels, I just pushed my way through and got to the forefront.
This was the first painting I saw. What struck me was El Greco’s ability to use highlights in a way that many during his time (1541 – April 7, 1614) did not. Although born in Greece, (real name Doménicos Theotokópoulos) El Greco ended up settling in Toledo, Spain and the picture above is of Toledo.
El Greco’s portrait of St. Francis of Assisi was a lot more striking than this reproduction can show. The highlights in this were bright and bold. Notice how El Greco elongated the whole body and face of St. Francis. This was to be found is nearly all of his portraits.
I found myself wandering and discovering that El Greco had actually spent time with many artists of his era, including Peter Paul Rubens, (1577-1640) whose portrait of The Spanish Duke of Lerma was the only painting by a non Spanish artist that was included in the exhibit
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This portrait dwarfed many of the other paintings as it measured 3 meters high by 2 meters wide! In this portrait Rubens uses the same brilliant highlights that El Greco had. I also was captivated by Rubens ability to mold the muscles of the horse so that I felt it’s very strength!
I was taking notes with my trusty pen in my little date book, as that was all I had in my purse, and I needed to get fairly close in order to read the discription of each picture. I guess I looked suspicious, because one of the security men came over and asked if I was a critic. I giggled and said, “sort of, I have a blog!” and so began a delightful conversation with the young gentleman.
Once we worked our way through the exhibit, we decided to have lunch. I ordered the best entree! The skirt steak with yukon gold potatoes and a small kraut salad. It was delicious, and just the right size to adhere to Weight Watchers standards.
Then we wandered back to visit some old favorites. For me it means almost anything Monet. I love his work and have, in fact several reproductions framed in my house so that I might be surrounded by the beauty of his work.
One of Hubby’s favorites is Auguste Renior’s, (1841-1919) “Dance at Bouvigal”. Most of us have seen it, but I was amazed to find out that this is one of the most requested pieces for loan. Although Boston is it’s home, it goes out on tour six months out of the year.
Another favorite of ours is a painting done by Frank Weston Benson (known as an American Impressionist, 1862 – 1951) of his daughter, Eleanor. It never fails to take our breath away with it’s simple beauty.
Frank Weston Benson resided for quite a time here in New Hampshire with his family. Eventually in his later years he retired to the seacoast of Maine.
They also had another smaller exhibit going on that we decided to walk through. It featured the work of Antonio López García, a contemporary artist, (born 1936 in Spain). Most of the work featured scenes of Barcelona, Spain, but as I turned the corner I saw this:
It is a pencil drawing by the artist and the young girl looks directly into your soul. The picture is titled, “Maria”, and in my opinion was the best piece that I saw there of his work.
All too soon it was time to leave. We could have stayed for days just wandering the halls and galleries of this wonderful old museum.
A very big thank you to our friends for inviting us to this wonderful show. It was such a pleasure and something we do not often have a chance to do.
