Last week I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.. It was mobbed–thousands of people from all over the world. They had three major exhibitions–Gustave Courbet, Nicolas Poussin, and Jasper Johns. I have known the works of all three artists and seen paintings of theirs many times previously, so I viewed the Courbet and Johns exhibits which I found fascinating.

First of all Courbet was an independent,ambitious and arrogant man who even declined the Cross of the Legion of Honor, so antagonized a lot of people. He painted whatever subjects he wanted and did not concentrate on one look. In the 30 years between the 1840s and the 1870s he painted portraits, self portraits, landscapes,nudes, group scenes, animals, hunting scenes as well as snow scenes. Many of the outdoor scenes were from the countryside around Ornans–a town in southwestern France where he came from and returned often.

He was hailed as the founder of realism and built elements of rebellion and dissent into his work. His work influenced many painters. There are 130 paintings in this exhibit. I am sure many would enjoy it.  Click here to read the NY Times review of the exhibit.

The other day Lynn and I went to MOMA and saw 2 exhibits everyone would find fascinating.

1-Color Chart–redefining color–1950 to today.

2-Design and the Elastic Mind.

- Dot