Clyfford Still

We have eclectic tastes. When we're not rising before dawn to watch the elk, or attending a model airplane rally (photos coming soon), we like to visit art museums. I learned of a new museum in Denver which houses the entire collection of the American abstract expressionist painter Clyfford Still.

Still's early work (1930s) is representational and the museum points out influences and similarities with the work of Van Gogh.

Clyfford Still self-portrait 1940

The monumental later works are pure examples of abstract expressionism.

The Clyfford Still Museum is right next door to another of Denver's Art Museums.

Art comes in many forms.

Sound and light show

I've witnessed some spectacular sound and light shows - such as the Chartres Festival of Light, and last month's show at Les Invalides. But one of the most original that I've seen lately was set in a former limestone quarry near Saint Rémy de Provence. It featured the paintings of Gauguin and Van Gogh - a great follow up to our earlier visit of Van Gogh's local haunts.

Waiting for the show to start

Van Gogh's notes and letters to his brother Theo

Gauguin's painting - 12 meters high

Van Gogh's Irises behind our silhouettes

It felt like we were walking inside the paintings - a surreal experience. But don't forget to take a sweater - it's cold inside! For a more complete virtual visit, click here.

Kröller-Müller Museum

One of the highlights of our visit to Benelux was the Kröller-Müller Museum which is located inside the De Hoge Veluwe National Park near Otterlo, Netherlands. The museum owes its existence to Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), the daughter of a German industrialist. Helene was fully aware that she lived in a period of great artistic innovation that witnessed movements such as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism and De Stijl. In her lifetime she collected almost 11,500 art works - including significant works by Picasso, Seurat, Mondriaan, etc. Helene's favorite artist was Vincent van Gogh. She acquired 91 paintings and approximately 180 works on paper by Van Gogh, amassing the world's largest collection of his works (with the exception of the Van Gogh family collection which we visited in Amsterdam later in the day).

We began our visit by picking up a free bicycle at the park entrance and then pedaling the 2.5 km to the museum.

Once inside the museum, we were entranced by the collection of paintings and sculptures. Here are a few of the highlights.Giacometti's Walking Man

Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters (1885)

Van Gogh's Place du Forum (1888)

The museum also features a sculpture garden of 25 hectares (>60 acres).
There were plenty of school groups taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and national treasures.

Musée d'Orsay

"Let's go to Basel to see the Bonnard exposition." Patrice was all ready to plan another trip when I reminded him that we could go see some paintings by Bonnard right here in Paris. Why travel to Switzerland when we have so many museums right at our fingertips? Well, there is the chocolate . . .

And so, I took Patrice to the Musée d'Orsay yesterday. He last visited the museum when it first opened 25 years ago and was unfamiliar with the collection - after all, it's too close to home.

What a delight to revisit the museum which was undergoing renovations for the last two years. It always takes my breath away to see in person some of the most famous paintings in the world.

Of course there were paintings by Bonnard:
In addition to the collections, the building itself is beautiful. Photography is not allowed, but I did manage to get a few shots of the fabulous clocks. This one is on the inside:
And this exterior clock faces north and gives a great view of Montmartre.
Not in Paris? You can take a virtual visit to the Orsay museum here.

Kathleen Dunne

Another amazing woman that we visited during our trip to Lucca was Kathleen Dunne, a California artist who came to Lucca to paint at the age of 69 in 2002 and never went back. Dee met Kathleen in 2004 when both were studying Italian in the Koinè language school in Lucca. Kathleen had previously worked as an art director for an advertising agency as well as a freelance illustrator. Oil painting is her real passion and she now lives in a 600 year old farmhouse in the hills above Lucca where she paints full time.

We met her for lunch, a tour of her home and studio, and a walk in the Tuscan hills. The roads were very steep and narrow. Our driver dropped us off to walk the last 100 yards up the hill.


Kathleen patiently answered Tracy's questions on the technical aspects of using oils.


Here is Kathleen showing us some of her paintings under the watchful eye of the Bouvier who accompanied her from California.


What a beautiful place for lunch!


To learn more about Kathleen, click here.

Art appreciation

Paris has hundreds of wonderful museums. No surprise there. Some of my favorites are the smaller museums - especially the ones with gardens. I stopped by the Rodin Museum the other day. I didn't even go inside, preferring to enjoy the gardens and the beautiful day. Here is an example of the art on display outside:


The second graders were visiting the Rodin gardens too:


The fifth graders were drawing the sculpures at the Antoine Bourdelle Museum:


And ninth graders were outside the Beaubourg museum busily studying their class notes for the excursion of the day: