Nashville: Frist Museum and more

Arrangement in Gray & Black: Mother of Artist a.k.a. Whistler's Mother
I spent the weekend in Nashville, Tenn. with friends. We went to see The Hermitage, The Grand Ole Opry, The Country Music Hall of Fame and the Frist Museum to see the exhibit Birth of Impressionism: Materpieces from the Muse' D'Orsay.

Haymaking
The exhibit was almost ruined for me by the museums incompetence of being able to deal with the crowds due to the exhibit ending on January 23rd.  However, once inside, we viewed wonderful paintings. The most famous were Whistler's Mother; The Fifer by Manet; Ballet Rehearsal On The Set by Degas; The Seine at Vitheuil and 5 others by Monet; Still Life with a Soup Tureen by Cezanne; and of course The Floor Scrapers by Caillebotte.

I really liked Haymaking by Jules Bastien-Lepage. He specialized in agriculture scenes. The palette is light and the figures are very close to you in this large painting. The horizon is high and on the top of the painting. The girl looks exhausted while the man naps. I felt he showed the life of these peasants with such realism.

I have to admit that I was hopping to see other pieces that I remember to be better from some of the artists represented. Like the pieces the d'Orsay sent for Renior. They were not the best of his early work that they muse' has. I was glad to have gone and seen these paintings again.

Alan Jackson: memorabilia
While in Nashville we also took in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I am a country music fan and enjoyed learning about the people who made the industry what it is today.

Vince Gill hosting a segment at the Opry
 We then took in the Grand Ole Opry. It was very fascinating to see the show produced as well as the eclectic list of performers.

The Hermitage was the home of President Andrew Jackson. The home sits about 20 minutes outside of Nashville. It was very informative not to mention how cool to see this mansions furniture, walls and materials preserved and in great shape. We were lucky that it was a gorgeous day to walk the land to see the President and his wife's grave site, slave cabins, out buildings, cattle, etc..

The weekend with friends was touristy, informative and just plain fun.

Gaylynn

                                               

Comments

debwardart said…
Sounds like fun - good friends and art - you can't beat that combo!