Cincy Art Museum

The art museum was on the top of my 'must see list', but I had put off going hoping Rich would be able to come with me.  With our time running out and Rich's days off few and far between, I knew it was now or never.  I packed up the girls and Zach yesterday and we trekked downtown to see what it had to offer. 

It far exceeded my expectations.  It was incredible.  I loved it so much, I'm going back when Rich is in Seattle in a few weeks so the big boys can see it too.  They couldn't believe I went without them.  I couldn't believe they cared.  I also was surprised they had learned about quite a few of the pieces at school.  Looks like they did learn a few things in school this year after all....

I was smiling all night as I thought about the museum.  I am such a sucker for art.  I love having paintings in my home.  I love art and history books.  Humanities 101 was hands down my favorite class in college.  Well, that and history of civilizations and astronomy and of course my hula class, but I digress.  I could live in a museum.  I could spend hours looking at pieces and be in awe of the talent others, because I do not have any artistic abilities at all.  Even stick figures are hard.  That must be why I appreciate it so much. 

Yes, I could have stayed for days, but I was worried about how long we would last at the museum with Zach in tow especially since we were there during his usual nap time.  He was a champion and we stayed for THREE HOURS!!  The girls worked on a picture savanger hunt the front desk gave them and got a cool art prize at the end.  We took a break midway and had lunch at the little cafe and then we back upstairs for more.  I was a proud Mama.

I did learn three interesting things while I was there.  1.  Brynn is deathly afraid of heights.  Seriously.  If we even got near the huge stair case or walkways, she would tense up and cry.  2.  Brynn gets 'creeped out' by strange Buddhist prayer altars and a few darker paintings.  I bribed her with a dollar so she would stop crying and walk through the 'scary' area.  It worked.  3.  The girls loved the art.  They danced like ballerinas next to the Degas bronze statues and each picked a favorite piece and told me in detail about it.  I loved it.  Now I can't wait until I can take them to Paris.  Or Italy.  Oh my. 

My personal favorite is Monet.  I love his work.  I love all of the Impressionist paintings.  They had four Picasso's and one was an actual face of a woman.  That surprised me.  The Botticelli was divine.  I loved the frescoes that made me think I was back in Florence or Rome.  I fell in a love with a beautiful painting by a famous American painter named Frank Duveneck, who just happened to have been born just across the river in Covington, Kentucky then trained in Cincinnati and Europe.  It was a stunning painting, though not as famous as The Whistling Boy, which is also in the museum.  I loved the the Egyptian gallery and the girls loved the 'Hercules' vases.   I died when I realized I missed seeing a Manet and a Rubens.  All the more reason to return.

There was one stand out funny moment.  We were walking past various Italian Renaissance paintings and the girls noticed a few naked people in them.  I explained that in one painting, two of the people were Adam and Eve.  The girls said they understood and we walked on.  Seconds later I heard Brynn singing Follow the Prophet song from the LDS Children's Songbook.  Adam is the prophet in the first verse.  She kills me.

The museum was founded in 1881, features 88 galleries and has a permanent collection of over 80000 works of international art.  One of the coolest displays was where they are restoring a Vincent Van Gogh.  They are painstakingly removing wax from the back of the canvas.  Very interesting.

I could go on and on.   Can't wait to go back.

Kaitlyn's favorite painting: The Sacred Hour by Ferdinand Hodler

Brynn's favorite painting: Meditation by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Zach's favorite paintings were the ones with dogs or horses.  Not kidding.