The Hermitage is the revered museum in the world. There was always this nagging voice in the background after you’d “done” the Louvre, that there was another bigger and better collection somewhere east. For having acquired and displaying all the famous Western schools of art, from the Dutch Landscapes to Spanish portraiture to Italian Renaissance masters and beyond, the Hermitage is the big Kahuna.

Here are a few of the best. This is totally subjective, so you are in my hands.

Next… the rooms.

Then…my favorites. These have nothing to do with what’s important in history, but more to do with what I find unique from other museums I have seen. The only one I can relate to is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. It had the replica of the Ishtar Gate there. It reminded me of the early beginnings of Western Art and examples of pre-European Art that I had never seen before.

For me, museum visits can be a religious, sublime experience. On the less raptured end, they can be pleasant visits where you come out feeling more informed or better connected to a particular culture. Once in awhile, it can be totally hideous. Our visit to the Hermitage unfortunately was in the latter category.

Gee Kin and I tried our best to tackle the Hermitage in a respectable way. However, the huge volume of cruise ship and foreign tour groups made it nearly impossible to see and enjoy the collection. There were more people taking selfies and photos in front of paintings than I can remember. I used to be annoyed by those using audio guides and standing in front of paintings as they listened to commentary. And I was one myself.

But these swarms of tourists take museum going to a new level. It makes you rethink your entire education and reason for going to museums in the first place. I have been to plenty of museums by now, and know that the quiet times are the best for viewing. But we failed to plan out our strategy, and at a moment of weakness decided to go in the afternoon instead of waiting for the following day.

And as for the experience….well, here are a few photos of what we went through to battle the crowds for a piece of the pie. Not pretty. These were were the forged battles that took place to see and appreciate the revered art I had learned as an undergrad. The pictures trace our experience– innocuous beginning, then quickly deteriorating to life in hell. H-E-L-P!!!!

In the end, I was satisfied with four hours and 4 miles (calculated on my Apple Watch) in the museum to see the pieces I did. As usual, Gee Kin had more questions than answers. His favorite piece was indicative of his experience at the museum.(See image below)

Aside from his getting chronic museum sickness, he continues to battle his problem without medication. Gee Kin thinks there are definitely better ways to give tourists without art training a quality experience.

When we took the kids through the Louvre a generation ago, I decided the best way for them to really see the voluminous collection was to focus on a few pieces that they could remember. I made a “scavenge hunt” of sorts for them. I seem to recall that one of the earliest and amazing internet sites was the material at the Alexandria Library in Egypt and the extensive art works that were catalogued there and available to the public. Remember Netscape and Mosaic, anyone?

On arrival at the Louvre, we broke into two teams and set a time limit and meeting point. Find the Venus of Milo, the Mona Lisa and a handful of other notable pieces. Gee Kin and I led our teams, ripping through the museum, literally racing. It didn’t matter what others thought of us. We wanted to win! Once we could find the handful on the list, we were exhilarated. Our girls vividly remember the fun we had at the Louvre, and the pieces they saw. Thankfully, they have each taken proper art history classes and got an understanding of the artwork they needed than from their schlocky mother. Melissa even majored in art history, so it couldn’t have been that bad an experience!

The annual Bouquets to Art exhibition at the De Young was a crowd pleaser and an eloquent pairing of floral artistry interpreting museum pieces. The flowers helped to provide a new dimension on and appreciation of a wide range of artwork, from classic paintings to three dimensional sculpture, Mayan gallery treasures, and signature Shaker furniture.

Friday at our local DeYoung Museum Exhibition from the Scottish National Gallery–an excellent array of the best including Impressionists. Scotland was at one time one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and this collection demonstrates its wealth and sophistication. I couldn’t resist taking pictures to capture the pieces for myself, so I thought I would share them. The exhibition will be shown until the end of May. If you are in the area, I highly recommend seeing it! The audio guide is also a worthwhile investment.
Below is a description of the Scottish painters from the exhibition.
Click on images to enlarge–these will enhance viewing and provide a better understanding of these exquisite paintings.

Above:
1. Allan Ramsay, Printer’s Wife
2. Portrait of Two Children, Van Dyck
3. Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Ladies Waldegrave, 1780
4. John Singer Sargent, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw,1892 (My favorite of the entire exhibition–a mesmerizing glare)

Above:
5. Sir Henry Raeburn, Colonel Altstadt MacDonnell, Glengarry Chief,1812 (Check out the regal kilt and purse here, that was preceded by pants!)
6. Sir Henry Raeburn, Rev. Robert Walker Skating on Duddington Loch, 1795
Other European painters from the National Gallery included:

Above:
7. Degas, Diego Martelli, 1879 Florentine Art critic
8. Monet, Poplars on the Epte, 1891
9. Seurat, La Luzerne St. Denis, 1884-85

Above:
10. Gauguin, Three Tahitians, 1899
11. Max Ernst, Young Girl showing the Head of her father 1927

Above:
12. Braque, The Candlestick, 1911
13. Vuillard, The Candlestick, 1900, (the artist lived with his mother who had a dressmaking and corset Shop)

To the left:
15. Kirchner, (member of die Brücke group, who wanted to form a bridge to the future)
Japanisches Theater 1909, from the Center Theater in Dresden. This is part of the German Expressionist movement shown at the MOMA in NYC earlier last month. I am teaching myself more about this and other periods of art history as I find examples and connect them to examples in prior exhibitions.

For a short video of Golden Gate Park from the top of the DeYoung Museum, go to https://youtu.be/GTg_BwXNyv4.

My two hits for the day were the Page Museum at the LaBrea Tar Pits, and the LA County Museum.

The La Brea Tarpits contain asphalt that formed after the sea was covered over millions of years by organic trash and debris. The bubbling mass is caused by natural gas or methane, and the goo on the top is asphalt. La Brea has some of the most complete deposits in the world where many animal remains were preserved in the tar. When animals got stuck in the tar, they in turn from their scents and sounds attracted predators and birds. Eventually all the living creatures got stuck in the thick mess and died, leaving intact an entire ecosystem. While Dinosaurs existed 65 million years ago and Homo Sapiens 200,000 yrs ago, these animals found in LaBrea were much later, from 40,000 years ago. During the Ice Age these animals migrated south and settled in this area. This move might have been a fine annual sojourn were it not for getting stuck.

Photos above, clockwise:

1. Tar Pits, with occasional eruption or two
2. Display of Ice Age bison, ca. 40,000 BCE (not a dinosaur)
3. Researchers in lab studying bone fragments

In the afternoon, I decided to focus on the Islamic Art and German Expressionists at the well-endowed LA County.

I couldn’t find any traditional Islamic Art on display, but was captivated by a contemporary exhibition of Islamic artists.

Photos, from top, left to right:

1. Display of women as a topic in art (very cautiously and respectfully depicted, although one showed women being trained to scale a wall in the Police Academy in their full burkas). The Ipad in the foreground was a very effective tool available to the public to access additional information about the collection nearby and to read about the artist and the work beyond a tag and title. Seating with the Ipad also made the experience of doing and viewing art much more pleasurable.

2. Display of text describing artwork of woman viewing life through a veil
3. Tombstone of dissident who was not allowed to have a monument in the cemetary

For further reading: http://www.lacma.org/about/press/islamic-art-now-contemporary-art-middle-east

German expressionism sounds pretty dry, but like all things German there is much more depth than what meets the eye. My first introduction today perusing the LACMA collection was to Ernst Barlach. He was a graphic artist of sorts, and sculptor who tried tackling the horrors of poverty and dying. Although trained in Dresden and Berlin as a fine artist, it was his travels to Russia that affected him deeply. He drew from Goethe’s Faust and other literary contexts to depict the emotions of the suffering and the end of the world. The information provided at the exhibition is attached.

(For further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Barlach)

Other German Expressionists, like Rottluff who was instrumental in Die Brücke group and Otto Dix from die Blaue Reiter movement, moved away from the illusionary three dimensional depictions on a flat plane to more abstract forms that introduced feelings into their art. More use of color and obscuring the picture plane were techniques used, and inner feelings of fear, alienation and tragedy were common themes. The role of religion was often challenged, and an ominous premonition of bad things to come seemed evident in the short period of 1913-1925, before this type of art, considered degenerate, was banned by the Nazis in 1933. (for further reading: http://www.lacma.org/art/collection/german-expressionism).

However, there was a third and accidental discovery. I found myself looking for women artists. Initially I thought it would be nearly impossible. I was curious about the lack of noteworthy women artists mentioned in the play “Heidi Chronicles” (I saw it in NYC earlier this month). I was delighted to find several examples with relative ease. Perhaps there are female artists, albeit fewer in the earlier development of art. See those below:

1. female artist and work to be identified
2. Hannah Hoch, Picture XI Blue, 1920
3. Barbara Hepworth, Reclining Form, 1959
4. female artist and work to be identified