39th Anniversary at the Wadsworth Atheneum

Saturday, June 9, 2018 - Wendy and I got married 39 years ago, on Saturday June 9, 1979. Its been a GREAT RIDE!!!

I want to visit the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT) to see a wonderful Frederic Church exhibit:

This Saturday, admission is free, and the docent tour starts at 2:30 - perfect timing!

We left the house at 11:15 AM and got to Hartford by 1:30


I had been here twice before, but they have a WONDERFUL collection, rotate often, and have enough space to show lots of stuff. Aside from a great collection of Hudson River School artists (Bierstadt, Church, Cole, Cropsey, Gifford, Heade,Kensett), they also have Childe Hassam, Jackson Pollock, Andrew Wyeth, van Gogh, Monet, Winslow Homer, Canaletto, Degas, Guardi, ...

Wonderful highlights in the Collection include:

Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait, c. 1887, 1875:


Francesco Guardi - View of the Piazzetta Looking toward San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, c. 1770-80:


Childe Hassam - The Flag Outside Her Window, April 1918, (The Boys Marching By), 1918:


Albert Bierstadt - The Hetch-Hetchy Valley, California, c. 1874-1880:

To quote the final line of the Display Info Card: "The valley was flooded and is presently known as the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir."

I m very sad that, in order to provide drinking water for San Francisco, we had to flood this beautiful valley.

Frederic Edwin Church - Mountains of Ecuador, 1855:


Thomas Cole - View in the White Mountains, 1827:


And, of course, from the Frederic Church exhibition:

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, 1870 (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO):


The Parthenon, 1871 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


Syria by the Sea, 1873 (Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI):


additionally, there were a number of pieces from PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:

Ruins at Baalbek, 1868:


Study for Jerusalem, 1870:


Evening on the Sea, 1877-78


Headed out of there at 4, a little traffic on 128, home by 7. Excellent Adventure-Time with my Beautiful Bride! Thank You God for these Great Days!

Music today from my big iPod:

David Gilmour - Live in Gdańsk, 2008


Jackson Browne - Lives in the Balance, 1986


Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, 1975


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking in New England (the 4,000 footers; the 100 Highest; WATERFALLS)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/