Resetting for the new year happened in the most pleasant way: a belated birthday celebration for Evan in the Big Apple.
We’ve long come to the conclusion that, for the man who has everything, experiences are more pleasurable than tangible items.
New York offers so much to do, and our time there is always limited. We chose to forego seeing a play and instead focused this trip on art. Having been to the Met, the MOMA, and the Guggenhem, we focused on two smaller galleries each of which had a particular art focus.
First, we visited the Frick Collection which featured Andrea del Sarto‘s charcoal sketches as a special exhibition. The sketches were awe-inspiring and I found it difficult to comprehend how a few simple strokes can, together, showcase such movement and emotion. The permanent collection was even more impressive in its breadth: works by El Grego, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Monet were incredible. I am partial to El Greco, and having seen many of his works in Toledo—the city he called his home—I was once again reminded about his mastery with color, shading, and the marriage of Byzantine traditions into western-style works. This painting in particular caught my eye. His shading was so exquisite that one cannot help but want to reach out and touch the robes of the subjects.
We switched things up on Sunday with a visit to the Neue Gallerie which mainly focuses on post-impressionist art from Germany and Austria from the time of the Weimar Republic until and into the Third Reich. I wanted to see Klimpt’s “The Woman in Gold” and as magnificent as it was, it didn’t overshadow other fascinating pieces including fashions, jewelry, and photography from the period.
We interspersed our time at the galleries with tours of the Essex and Chelsea markets and a cider tasting. There may have also been a visit to a New York institution, a busy establishment for libations, and an beautiful dinner.
New York is big, bold, and beautiful. It’s crowded, enigmatic, diverse, and ever changing. These are the very reasons we keep coming back, to get recharged, to see how it’s changed, and understand a little more about ourselves through our experiences there.
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