Williamstown, Mass.: The Clark Art Institute - Feb 21, 2025

Friday, Feb 21, 2025 - I have been working on my database of Winslow Homer paintings (using the book "Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine" - an exhibition hosted at The Portland Museum of Art in 2012). i have been at The Clark 3 times before: 2015, 2018 and 2021 (all with my old iPhone/camera). On Thursday morning, Feb 20 I hit The Clark's website and saw that 10 paintings I had taken "old" pictures of were ALL ON DISPLAY (plus a portrait I had never seen)! I told Wendy that I would like to go out to The Clark sometime, and she said "Well, I'm free tomorrow." YAY! We hit The Road after breakfast, and were out there at 12:30, in time for lunch in their Cafe. The day had already started wonderfully with my walk on Singing Beach at 6:42

A pretty-straightforward drive:

Out at The Clark:

Their downstairs/cafe area is pretty cool:

After lunch it was time to "Hit The Art". "Comparison Photos (Old-then-New)" include:

Winslow Homer - "Eastern Point", 1900 oil. Old photo (top) was taken May 5, 2021:

Winslow Homer - "Summer Squall", 1904 oil. Old photo (top) was taken May 5, 2021:

Winslow Homer - "Farmyard Scene", 1872-74 oil. Old photo (top) was taken May 29, 2015:

Winslow Homer - "Two Guides", 1877 oil. Old photo (top) was taken May 29, 2015:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - "View at Guernsey", 1883 oil. Old photo (top) was taken May 29, 2015:

Alexandre Calame - "The Mythen", c. 1861 oil. Old photo (top) was taken Jan 26, 2018:

Other beauties I saw:

John Singer Sargent - "Fumée d'ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris)", 1880 oil:

Edgar Degas - "Dancers in the Classroom", c. 1880 oil:

Edgar Degas - "Before the Race", c. 1882 oil:

Claude Monet - "The Cliffs at Étretat", 1885 oil:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - "Bay of Naples, Evening", 1881 oil:

and a perfect piece for a date - Auguste Rodin - "Eternal Spring", Modeled 1884, cast c. 1898-1918 bronze:

We left The Museum a little after 2 PM. I like the look of the whole 1.23-miles:

REALLY COOL Ice-by-the-side-of-the-road on Route 2 on the way home:

Dinner at Five Guys on 114 on our way home. I wonder if I'll stop by St. Anthony, ID on my trip west this year?

[next stop: The Museum of Modern Art in New York City]

Thank You God for this wonderful art/adventure/date-with-my-wife day!

Music today:

At 3 separate times, Wendy read me a chapter or 2 from a nice book: "Love Does" by Bob Goff (2012):

various - Saturday Night Fever, 1977 double-album, last heard 5/12/2022 - GREAT disco/soundtrack album:

Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using, 1972 debut album, last heard 9/05/2024 - I like this one a lot:

various - Saturday Night Live: 25 Years, Vol. 1, 2006 compilation album, last heard 10/05/2020 - great collection (Paul Simon, Sting, Counting Crows, Annie Lenox, Grateful Dead, ...):

Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, 2008 album, last heard 9/13/2021. As I wrote then: not a very good album, except "Washington Square", WHICH I LOVE!!:

Bruce Hornsby & The Range - Scenes From The Southside, 1988 2nd album, last heard 3/03/2017 - wonderful album:

Neil Young - Silver & Gold, 2000 25th studio album, last heard 7/17/2024:

Past entries of this blog are available on the website https://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

NYC: Christie's, The Met, and The Guggenheim - Feb 4, 2025

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - My Birthday was yesterday, so I wanted to give myself a present: A Day-Trip to New York City! There were over 80 pieces of art (including 3 Greek vases) that I wanted to see at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, plus The Guggenheim is only 10 blocks north of there, and there are some Turner watercolors and Guardi paintings up for auction (and on display) at Christie's.

It is no longer any fun driving to New York City. There always have been "regular tolls" for bridges and tunnels, but The City just instituted a "congestion pricing program" for vehicles driving on "local streets and avenues at or below 60 Street". Also, the traffic has always been hit-or-miss (sometimes it worked GREAT, sometimes in has been a VERY LONG RIDE HOME). So I decided to spring for The Amtrak Acela train (out of Westwood/Route 128). It is expensive - $217 down, and $138 back (total $355), plus $7 parking, but I did reading, Sudokos, and resting. (of course, the non-Acela options are cheaper, but take 45 minutes longer - time is money)

I left the house a little after 6 AM, and was parked by 7:20 for my 7:29 train - nice train:

Pretty views along the Connecticut shoreline:

Slight delay, and we pulled into "Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station" at 11:07

A BIG PART of a New-York-City-visit is being out on the streets, seeing skyscrapers, theatres, and Times Square:

I reached Christie's at 11:50, and saw some fun stuff:

Francesco Guardi - "The Piazzetta of San Marco, Venice, looking towards San Giorgio Maggiore", no date, oil (estimate $600,000 - $800,000) [sold Feb 5, 2025 for $756,000]:

Hubert Robert - "The Antiquities of Nimes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence", no date, oil (estimate $300,000 - $500,000) [sold Feb 5, 2025 for $252,000]:

J.M.W. Turner - "Lake Lucerne at Dusk", circa 1842, watercolour (Price upon request) ["Private Sale" = no results announced]:

J.M.W. Turner - "Binger Loch and the Mäuseturm", no date, watercolour (estimate $200,000 - $300,000) [sold Feb 4, 2025 for $226,800]:

NOTE: the picture you want to see may not be there: J.M.W. Turner - "The approach to Venice" or "Venice from the lagoon", circa 1840, watercolour (estimate $300,000 - $500,000) [sold Feb 4, 2025 for $327,600]:

Don't worry - maybe it will turn up:

UP FOR AUCTION AT CHRISTIE'S - if there is any art at your local museum, you BETTER SEE IT NOW, WHILE YOU STILL CAN. Top photo: Jan Both - "An Italianate landscape with bandits leading prisoners", no date, oil (estimate $1,000,000 - $1,500,000) [unsold Feb 5, 2025]:

I hit the MFA Boston website, and this is what I found:

I left Christie's and walked up to The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Getting there at 12:53

The sidewalks are bone-dry, so I didn't need my L.L.Bean boots; it is windy, so I shouldn't have brought my hat; and it is in the low-40s, so I didn't need my coat/scarf/gloves. Aside from that, it is a beautiful day in The City.

I am always impressed by The Entrance Hall:

My first stop was "Three Greek Vases". Old photo (top) was taken Nov 22, 2013:

Other "Comparison Photos" include Thomas Moran - "The Teton Range", 1897 oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

Francesco Guardi - "The Grand Canal above the Rialto", late 176Os oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

The last "Comparison Photos": Frederic Edwin Church - "Heart of the Andes", 1859 oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

That's all for here, for this blog. I took pictures of 98 works of art at The Met, and I covered 2.5 miles in 2 hours 20 minutes:

10 blocks north was The Guggenheim:

I saw a Monet-I-have-not-seen - Claude Monet "The Palazzo Ducale, Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore (Le Palais Ducal vu de Saint-Georges Majeur)", 1908 oil:

It was 4 PM when I left The Guggenheim, so I took a cab back down to Penn Station. It turns out that the Train Station is under the original Post Office (10001 - New York, NY):

The Station is Beautiful:

I bought a pastrami sandwich (at Pastrami Queen), and boarded my 5:00 PM Acela. Nice views Heading Home:

The train got to Route 128 at 8:30; I was home by 9:30, and bed by 10. Thank You God for this wonderful art/adventure day!

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/