Filed under: art, rest & relaxation, travel | Tags: Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Today I headed back to the D.C. Mall for some more art. I completed the National Gallery of Art’s modern wing, then headed to the Hirshhorn Museum of modern and contemporary art, and finally ended up at the Air & Space Museum with an hour-plus to kill.
I wish I could do a slideshow of the art I saw today, but instead you’ll need to scroll down the page. First, some detail from French painter André Derain’s “Mountains at Collioure” (1905).
One of my favorites from today: This massive 1971 acrylic from Chuck Close.
While I wasn’t so into the rest of this large, fractured canvas, I loved this portion of David Salle’s “Coming and Going” (1987).
I also loved German-born Anselm Kiefer’s “Zin Zum” (1990). Here’s some detail.
Another German painter, Sigmar Polke’s “Hope is: Wanting to Pull Clouds” (1992).
Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man”.
How cool is it that these museums allow photography? The Hirshhorn was no exception. My two favorite pieces there were a 30-minute film by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, “The Way Things Go,” which you can view a sampling of here, and Doug Wheeler’s “Environmental Light Installation” (1969), which was, to put it mildly, really fucking cool. It’s in a deep white room, which I’m not sure comes through clearly from these pics. Note, the dude in the first one is a visitor, and not part of the installation.
I couldn’t resist. I need a new Facebook photo.
Here’s some more highlights from the Hirshhorn. I really dug Kent Henricksen’s “Absence of Myth (White)” (2007), which features embroidery.
John Jurayj’s “Untitled (U.S. Embassy, 1983, #1)”, from 2005-06.
Check this funky one out. The canvas is wood paneling, and the 2006 piece is by Iona Rozeal Brown. Check out the detail.
A little (big) Lichtenstein …
I found this small sculpture by Klaus Ihlenfeld quite cool.
As was this dangling sculpture from 1966 by Eva Hesse.
Finally, doesn’t this Barry Flanagan sculpture from the Hirshhorn’s sculpture garden remind you of the rabbit mask in Donnie Darko?
After all the art, I took in a short IMAX flick about the sun at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
The museum closed at 5:30, so I didn’t get to spend much time there. I wish I would have walked around the Natural History museum instead. Maybe tomorrow.
