The Philadelphia Museum of Art: A Review

Too much art for just one visit!

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is probably is the only museum in the world that is more famous for its steps than for any of the magnificent pieces inside. These are the steps that Sylvester Stallone made famous in the Rocky movies. On any day of the year, you can watch tourists from all over the world race up the steps and dance about in homage to Rocky Balboa.

But if you actually go inside the building, you will have your breath taken away just as much as a foolish sprint up the steps.

More Than One Day's Worth

This writer's favorite painting in the world happens to reside in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I would have missed it if I hadn't been lucky enough to have been born in raised in the greater Philadelphia area. The museum is incredibly vast. You cannot expect to "do" the Museum in just one day. That would not only do the works of art an injustice, but you will get a bad headache from the sensory overload and the stress of trying to see it all.

The best way to explore the museum is to have a map of it and then focusing on the art styles that most excite you. If you are going to the museum and don't live in the greater Philly area, then chances are you are coming for one of the magnificent exhibitions which often take place. The Philadelphia Museum of art is often the only East Coast choice for many priceless tours. If you are coming for a special exhibition, just go to the exhibition and don't worry about seeing anything else.


Famous Paintings

Although the Philadelphia Museum of Art is home to some of the world's most famous paintings, my favorite was painted by local boy Thomas Eakins. Even though I had been to the museum many times as a child, I somehow missed this massive painting, which is so realistic, it's almost a photograph. It's called Fairman Rogers Four In Hand (A May Morning in the Park).

Other famous paintings with a permanent home in Philadelphia are Eakins' more famous painting, "The Gross Clinic"; "Interior" by Edgar Degas (also known as "The Rape"); Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase"; Monet's "Japanese Footbridge and Lily Pool"; Cezanne's "The Large Brothers"; Picasso's "Three Musicians" and the most famous version of Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" (my favorite Van Gogh.) The Impressionist Gallery alone is worth the admission price (which is about $20 but does not include admission to special exhibitions.)

Overwhelming

When you get overwhelmed by a painting and turn to walk away, you almost feel as if you have been shoved into a pool of icy water, because the real world comes at you like a shock.  This is if you’re lucky enough to get an unobstructed view.  The Philadelphia Museum of Art often draws huge crowds and throngs of schoolchildren – even on weekdays.  Get used to dodging wheelchairs and weaving around toes.

Eventually, all of the art becomes a blur.  At this point, head for the snack bar and try to get back to earth.  It can be quite difficult to get out of the parking lot and then deal with Philly traffic, so you need to be able to concentrate. 

My Favorite Van Gogh Painting: Sunflowers

I've just realized that I've had this blog for over a year and have yet to write extensively about my favorite painting by Vincent Van Gogh. I will now rectify this immediately.

As this post's title suggests, my favorite Van Gogh painting is Sunflowers (Tournesols).  Ah, but which Sunflowers, you ask? Van Gogh did numerous paintings featuring these gaudy flowers in different shades, vases and sometimes with other flowers.  The one I like is the most famous version with a yellow-gold background, painted in 1888 and now hangs in the National Gallery  in London.

Why? Well, my Mom bought a cheap framed reproduction when I was a very small child.  It hung on the stairway next to the stacks of National Geographics that my family once collected (and are now long gone.) About 40 years later, after my parents' divorce, my two busted live-in relationships and God knows how many moves, it's about all that's left of my childhood.  It's still owned by my Mom.

When I was 29, I had a mental breakdown and ran away to live with a busker in England.  That didn't work out and I burned a lot of bridges back to America.  And then one day my make-shift shelter in the woods was burnt down.  The fire brigade suspected arson.  I knew someone was trying to kill me and my dog.  I never thought my Mom would take me in, but she did -- and took my dog in, too.

She set up a bedroom for me in the basement.  There, propped against a mirror, was the Sunflowers painting.  I had come home.

Below is a short news clip about two of the most famous versions from London and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam of Sunflowers being shown side by side.

What is your favorite Van Gogh painting?

A Pair of Van Gogh's Sunfllowers Shown Together in London

Going to be in London?  You lucky dogs.  You'll get an opportunity to see a sight which was last viewed 65 years ago -- when two versions of Vincent Van Gogh's infamous sunflower paintings were hung side by side.  The display will last for three months only until April.  Remember -- admission to The National Gallery is free.  Compare that to the cost of seeing a Van Gogh in an American museum, where charges rom $25 to $35 per person are not uncommon.

One version is owned by the National Gallery in London.  It was bought in 1924 from the Van Gogh family for a whopping 24 million pounds sterling.  The other is owed by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  They are now displayed in Room 46 of the National Gallery.

There are several versions of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings.  My personal favorite is the one I have actually travelled to see at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Sadly, one version was destroyed during World War II, although photos of it apparently still exist.  Because of their value, the chances of all existing versions being brought together in one museum are next to impossible.  The sunflowers in Philly, for example, is one of the cash cows for that museum and so it could never part with it.

Vincent once wrote that his sunflowers were really self-portraits.  Perhaps he was in a more positive frame of mind when he wrote that.  In his career, Vincent painted sunflowers in all their stages from seeds to dried dead flowers.  When Paul Gauguin painted his portrait of Vincent, he chose one of Vincent painting sunflowers.  Vincent reportedly said of it, "It is a portrait of me, but a portrait of me gone mad."