Friday, August 30, 2013

Visiting the girl, larger than life and under the shade

- No, that is not Scarlett Johansson, it's the advertisement on the front of The High Museum of Atlanta for The Girl with a Pearl Earring exhibit.  Johannes Vermeer's masterwork is the focal point of an exhibit featuring "Dutch paintings from the Mauritshuis."  Friend Leisa and I visited the exhibit after work, on the night the High stays open late.  If you click on the High Museum link up there highlighted in red, the "girl" will wink at you.

- The large fruit installation on the porch outside the lobby of the museum.

- Leisa alerted me to the view from the other side, where there was a large knife just aching to cut that fruit up for a snack.

- This sculpture, The Shade, by Auguste Rodin, is under the shade of a very large Ginkgo tree on the grounds of the museum.  It was donated to the museum by the French government in memory of the 106 Atlanta arts patrons who died in a plane crash at Orly Airport in Paris, while on a museum sponsored trip, on June 3, 1962.

I also loved the dinner we had after the museum visit, sitting outside on a balmy evening.   And I'm off to a less balmy place today - the North Carolina mountains, where I plan to read books by the river.  I hope you have a great weekend, my friends. 

25 comments:

Leonora said...

The Dutch paintings are among my favorites! The benefit of living near an urban area is the exposure to all that wonderful culture: )
Have a great weekend!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

The High Museum has quite a Wonderful Permanent Collection, as I recall....this exhibit sounds really really marvelous, I must say....Ahhh to be in Atlanta to see this...!

Granny Annie said...

Glad you told us she would wink or I would have missed it. How fun!

Some friends gave me some delicious plums the other day. Fresh fruit is so yummy!

Lynn said...

Leonora -

There were a number of Rembrandt's included, too. It was so great.

Yes - I am lucky - and I can be at that museum in about 10 minutes from my office.

Naomi -

It does have a wonderful permanent collection. I need to revisit that - I tend to just go for the special exhibits.

I wish you could, too. There were no photos allowed for that exhibit, but no one stopped me from taking photos of the fruit. :)

Lynn said...

Granny Annie -

I looked for that link so I could remember how to spell the exhibit name and thought I saw movement in her face. I looked away and thought I saw it again. "OK" I thought - "I'm staring until she moves again." And that's when I saw the wink. :)

I love fresh fruit like that with a little cheese as a snack. Yum.

sage said...

I've been to the High Museum, but don't remember the sculpture for the plane crash victims, but if I remember it was raining so we didn't linger outside.

TALON said...

Beautiful! Lovely to be close to an area with such amazing exhibits.

Have a fabulous weekend kicking back at the river, Lynn!

Sparkling Red said...

You're right! She does look a lot like ScarJo! I wouldn't have thought of that.

I LOVE the giant fruit.

Elephant's Child said...

The High Museum looks wonderful. Thank you for that link - starting my day with a wink was a treat.
Our National Gallery has some giant Bronze Pears outside. Fruit is sooo beautiful.
I hope your weekend is wonderful. What are you reading?

Lee said...

Wow! Lynn! That fruit display is outstanding!

The movie certainly did resurrect not only the girl and her earring but all of Vermeer's works; and introduced many people who had not been familiar with his paintings before the movie was made.

Riot Kitty said...

She winked! I loved that book - I've read everything by Tracy Chevalier and just got her new one.

Anil P said...

Been a fan of Vermeer's works for a long time, but never had the opportunity to see them in the original yet.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn .. how lovely to see the painting for real. We've had a few of Vermeer's works here in London along with other Dutch artists and their 17th C musical instruments .. then they had a short concert using ancient instruments on the hour ...

The sculptures are great .. while the Rodin is a gift of sadness, but inspirational in its thought ...

Cheers and happy reading weekend .. Hilary

Joanne said...

Sounds like a lovely exhibit!! Have a great long weekend!

Fireblossom said...

She DID wink at me! :-)

Jannie Funster said...

Reading books by the river sounds like a great thing to me.

WOW, those fruits are AMAZING, I'm gonna pick up that big knife and slice into them for sure.

I got a wink too -- cool!

xoxoxo

happygirl said...

I adore the Dutch Masters. and that still life sculpture is wonderful. I believe still life portraits are my favorite type of painting. Although the portraits are fascinating. :)

Lynn said...

Sage -

I think it stood in another place at one time -

Talon -

It is fabulous. And I think I'm tired now from all the kicking back. :)

Sparkling Red -

That was said tongue in cheek - Scarjo was the star of the film The Girl with a Pearl Earring. A really good film - recommended.

It is thanks to Leisa that I got the fruit pics - she suggested it.

Elephant's Child -

I loved that wink, too.

I read the sequel to The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver - Pigs in Heaven. I stayed yesterday until I finished it. Before that - I just finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy - not up to the standard of Prince of Tides, but still a good yarn.

Lynn said...

Lee -

So true - I loved how they put so many Dutch painters into this exhibit.

Riot Kitty -

I'll have to check out her books - I've never read one.

Anil P -

It was awesome. Good to see you.

Hilary -

Wasn't it lovely that the French government did that?

The exhibit accompanied by music would be wonderful.

Lynn said...

Joanne -

Hope your weekend was good, too!

FB -

I know - cool, eh?

Jannie -

A little humid, but still wonderful.

xoxo

happygirl -

It was incredible. :)

LL Cool Joe said...

Oh yeah she did wink at me! :D

I love the larger than life still life of fruit. What's it made from?

Snaggle Tooth said...

If only the Dutch master could see his work so huge like that still appreciated! I memorized that in Art History once.
I wonder what the fruit was made out of- n if it was cast from clay.
Did you go out n buy pears after seeing that? I want some now!
So cool to have an original Rodin! Sad about the crash tho-
Sorry had to comment so late here-

Lynn said...

Joe -

Isn't that neat? The fruit is made of reinforced plastic.

Snaggle -

Pears and Peaches, right on Peachtree Street. I just looked it up and it's supposed to simulate bowling balls. :)

No worries - just come by when you can.

Sara said...

I'm sorry I'm so late this post. I absolutely love Vermeer's work!!!

The "wink" was fun. It's make me wonder how they did that.

The fruit was a clever idea and noticing the knife was a good catch.

As I already responded to the other post about river visit...at least I think I did...I glad it was a relaxing visit.

Sparkling Red said...

Oh! I didn't know about that film. Well, you learn something every day! :-)