OH.. I only wish you could have been there! A day that was like none other!

Friday our family got up really really early and headed to the Big D for a day of Art and History.. and of course I am a believer those two are always suppose to be used together! So it was ART HISTORY ALIVE day!

Our first stop was the Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. 

What an incredible experience! Most of the time I spent with the boys looking and reading together. Cat spent her time with a good friend and it was so fun to see her and M walking around together and being so interested in the objects they were seeing. If I even tried to write about our experience at this exhibit it would be to long to read, so I will just hit the highlights

First, this is a MUST see! If this exhibit comes to your area, fork over the money and go!

Second, I had read many things about ancient Egypt and we spent a LONG time there when we started our Story of the World history a few years ago. In all the reading and learning we have done I never caught on to the fact that the Ancient Egyptians made AMAZING glass artwork! Glass beads in their jewelry, and even a glass head rest! It was incredible!

I will do a post at a later date about our favorite pieces and what they expressed .. but for now I will leave Tut and take you to the next step along our journey!

As we were getting ready for this day trip, I made a point to not look into the DMAs permanent collection on line. I wanted to be surprised! And OH was I so surprised! I had NO idea the DMA housed paintings by:

Monet (Water Scene), Manet (Soldier), Picasso, Van Gogh (Bridge), Mary Cassatt (Girls), Jackson Pollock (Cathedral), Mondrian, Renoir (pencil drawing), Rodin (Sculpture), Edward Hicks (The Peaceable Kingdom), Cezanne (Still Life), Andrew Wyeth (That Gentleman), Georgia Okeeffe, Miro, Whistler, and Grandma Moses!

Their collection list is of course a lot longer than this but these are the ones I was so surprised to see! AMAZING experience! And such a large collection of artifact from around the world! wow.

AS if that wasnt enough, we drove to Fort Worth and saw the Impressionists exhibit at the Kimbell. We were all so tired from the day we had already! I was already on overload from the emotional  experience I had at Tut and the DMA.. and if we could have we would have probably just headed home. But this was our last chance! On Nov 2nd the exhibit would be going home to Chicago Art Institute! So, even though were were tired and our feet all hurt, we headed into the Kimbell. It was more crowded than we had anticipated (being that it was Halloween night we figured it would be pretty slow), but there were lots of people! Most paintings has 10 to 15 people around them trying to view.. but all the people sooooo friendly! And all the people were polite to stand for a few minutes and then move on to the next, giving each person a chance to be directly in front of the masterpieces! It was almost more than I could stand! Inches away from Van Goghs self portrait!, Monet’s Haystacks, Toulouse-Lautre’s At the Moulin Rouge, and Degas Dancers! WOW. Speechless! I was THRILLED to stand and gaze into the eyes of Renoirs’ Two Sisters! (A painting that has hung in our home in print form for 15 years) The colors were breathtaking and I could never describe here how amazing this painting was and our print does NOT do it justice.

As far as the children, they were exhausted but did a fantastic job as they listened to the “children’s tour” and some times just went and sat on the benches provided as they listened and then would walk over to look closely. I cannot wait until we will have some time for then to sit and paint and draw (they did a bit today but need more time). I plan on getting Art books by thier favorite Artists and have them do some paintings as a way to remember our trip:)

What an experience! I wish you could have been there! It was like walking through a Art History Text book! After all the study I did in college (Art history was my least favorite subject by the way..lecture classes were not my favorite thing) and all the study I have done in the last 5  years as I teach Elementary children about the world of art.. I NEVER thought I would ever have the opportunity to be the the same room with such legendary masterpieces! Its just indescribable! (and i failed horribly to do it justice in this post)

If you have a chance.

GO.  (pictures and my childrens own masterpieces to be posted later this week:)

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