An Evening At The Museum

Debi and I both like artworks from the Impressionist period – and we’ve gone out of our way to see many of the exhibitions of those paintings, from the fine collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York to the even more impressive collection at the Barnes Foundation in suburban Philadelphia.  (We were totally blown away by visiting there with my sister Diane a few years ago.  Be sure to go if you can.)

We have always loved this painting by Renoir — the Dance At Bougival — as it seemed to capture a wonderfully emotional moment of love and longing and distance and beauty.  It was probably 20 years ago when we first saw it — maybe at Boston’s Museum of Fine Art or perhaps at one of the museums in Amsterdam — but it impressed us so much we bought a reproduction and hung it in our home for many years.

This past year the deYoung Museum in San Francisco held two shows of interest to those, like us, interested in the period: One earlier in the year on the “Birth of Impressionism” and one we just attended on late Impressionism and subsequent styles like pointillism, Nabi and others.  (See “Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay”)

Both exhibitions were really interesting and had some wonderful pieces on loan from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, but I was most surprised and delighted to round a corner and confront this painting, “Dance In The Country” also by Renoir.

At first, I thought it was the earlier painting but quickly saw the difference: a middle-aged couple and, more importantly, the mellower nature of their love.  I didn’t even know this painting existed, and it was a true and delightful suprise.  It became, for me, a meditation on aging and the nature of married love, which then took me into a deeper appreciation of Debi and our lives together.

It was therefore altogether fitting that Tyler should be with us for both of these Impressionist exhibitions.   I have come to really appreciate his proximity, especially given the distance between here and Molly’s New York and Caleb/Nancy/Madison/Macy’s Vancouver.   I really appreciate the fact that Tyler, Debi and I can meet after work, take an hour or so looking at an exhibit like this, and have a nice meal together, without serious travel or advance planning.

On this evening, we all had a wonderful time, capped off by Tyler’s demonstrating the night-photographing capacity of his iPhone 4, out in front of the musuem.  (And it was VERY dark.) As you can see, a good time was had by all!