The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Date Visited: October 14, 2006
Admission: free
Contact Information:
Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC
http://www.nga.gov/
Hours: Monday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1.
Facts: The National Gallery of Art is home to many great works
including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.
The collection includes over 110,000 works.
My Experience: There is nothing quite like seeing a work of art you
have studied and grown to appreciate in person. Having it there right in front of you, being able to get within inches to study and search for brush stroke
s and details not revealed by slides is amazing. I have always been attracted to John Singer Sargent’s Street in Venice, one of many of the works I got to see.
The museum, then, had the advantage of winning my praises simply from its collection. However, I did like the set up, rooms winding back and separating the works by artist, location, and time. There were plenty of places to sit comfortably if I wanted to spend more time reading a particular piece.
One thing that did bother me was the fact that when I go to a museum to look at works of art, I like the place to be quiet. I like to be able to contemplate and 
really take in what it is I am looking at. I like to feel as if I am either alone or with someone else who also truly appreciates the work. Usually, I am successful at doing this because I am good at tuning noises out and because many art galleries I visit are quiet. However, this was far from the case at the National Gallery. This was a major disappointment to me. Kids were running around, adults were not speaking in low tones, pictures kept being snapped, and I was annoyed. This problem was more of an issue in the Dutch and Italian sections, as people behaved this way in front of Rembrandt’s, Rubens’, and Andrea del Castagno’s works to name a few, but it seemed to dissipate in the American section. This made me a bit curious about American
s’ opinions of American art, but it could have just been a fluke.
s and details not revealed by slides is amazing. I have always been attracted to John Singer Sargent’s Street in Venice, one of many of the works I got to see.
The museum, then, had the advantage of winning my praises simply from its collection. However, I did like the set up, rooms winding back and separating the works by artist, location, and time. There were plenty of places to sit comfortably if I wanted to spend more time reading a particular piece.
One thing that did bother me was the fact that when I go to a museum to look at works of art, I like the place to be quiet. I like to be able to contemplate and 
really take in what it is I am looking at. I like to feel as if I am either alone or with someone else who also truly appreciates the work. Usually, I am successful at doing this because I am good at tuning noises out and because many art galleries I visit are quiet. However, this was far from the case at the National Gallery. This was a major disappointment to me. Kids were running around, adults were not speaking in low tones, pictures kept being snapped, and I was annoyed. This problem was more of an issue in the Dutch and Italian sections, as people behaved this way in front of Rembrandt’s, Rubens’, and Andrea del Castagno’s works to name a few, but it seemed to dissipate in the American section. This made me a bit curious about American
s’ opinions of American art, but it could have just been a fluke. Viewing the works alone makes going to the National Gallery a valuable experience. I think next time, I will try to go at a time during the day when it might not be so busy.
Monet, Waterloo Bridge, Gray Day, 1903
No comments:
Post a Comment