Day 18 – 1/20/14: Chinese

We decided to come back for a third straight day, since the two prior days had both been shortened by family visits. After three consecutive visits in the Greek and Roman section, we were ready to try something different. So we made our first visit to the Asian Department, an area about which we know very little, starting with Chinese art. After lunch, Bev stayed with her cousin again, while I completed the Chinese galleries.

As expected, there were some large statues of Buddhas, as well as bodhisattvas, enlightened persons living on earth. In the galleries designated for works on paper, the regular display had been replaced with an interesting special exhibit of modern Chinese artists entitled Ink Art, most of which I really didn't appreciate. The best surprise was a beautiful indoor rock garden called Astor Court, bordered by an appropriate colonnade. The MFA has an outdoors Japanese garden, but I didn’t know that Chinese had their own version.

In looking at maps, I discovered that the pre-1800 European Paintings Galleries had been expanded, renovated, and reinstalled as of May 23. This is the collection that took a very full day to see several years ago. Now the gallery space has been increased by one-third, with 700 paintings in 45 galleries. It’s not just the new galleries that I need to visit. Since everything’s been moved around to accommodate new works, I have to go through everything again! The goal of seeing everything looks like a moving target, but this section is so amazing, I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

Day 17 – 1/19/14: Greek and Roman (part)

The next day, Bev and I finished the Greek section with a gallery of Southern Italian versions of Greek vases, which I found cruder and less attractive than the originals. We then went to the large courtyard of Greek and Roman sculptures, one of the museum’s loveliest spaces, where we had often stopped to rest on previous visits. Finally we moved on to Roman art and saw some large frescos.  

Day 16 – 1/18/14: Greek (part)

We began another three-day weekend, with wet snow falling. I started by myself back in the Greek galleries, moving through the classical and Hellenistic period. Bev arrived, and we were about to meet Theo, when she ran into her cousin and family. New York may have 8 million people, but it’s amazing how we can run into someone we know. We all had lunch and then to the special exhibit, Jewels by JAR.