On September 21st I fell in love…with a museum. It was love at first site but lets go to the beginning of the fairy tale shall we?
On September 21st after a swig of the amazing GBD house made spicy chai and a pumpkin donut I strolled towards the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. The park was beautiful and relaxing. The modern sculpture dotted the winding paths of the park quite naturally and again, many of my favorite artists were represented such as Claes Oldenburg, Alexander Calder, and Roy Lichtenstein. In the center of the garden there is an enormous fountain that gradually gets bigger. The garden is perfect for napping, reading, or simply staring off into space, a true city oasis.
While the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is fabulous, it is not the romantic hero of this story. Enter the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. I was immediately head over heels, entering the courtyard of the donut-shaped buliding through a Millennium Falcon-esque opening was very cool and began my wonderful Hirshhorn journey. Never have I seen modern art so beautifully curated and approachable. The rotated permanent collection was elegant and striking. Not too many pieces gave me the classic “I don’t understand this piece of modern art” head scratch each piece was given the proper space and attention it needed. A piece by Julian Schnabel, a new artist to me, called Portrait of Andy Warhol particularly resonated with me.
Along with the permanent collection the exhibitions at the Hirshhorn were equally as impressive. Higher Resonance, an installation piece by Jennie C. Jones was very interesting in its combination of sounds and materials. Barbara Krugar’s Belief + Doubt pop art text explosion in the basement and gift shop was very bright and exciting. Finally, the ongoing Black Box series had some very interesting innovative work with mixed media pieces. The Hirshhorn left me very inspired to seek out creativity and engage in a conversation about art which is the sign of, what I believe is, a truly successful museum.
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