afternoon at the norton simon

Dan and I talked about Impressionist art last night, and how one can more fully appreciate works of art in that style when one sees it up close, in real life, because then you can see all the brush strokes, the use of color for shadows and light - essentially all the movements the artist made, the soul he/she poured into that painting, sketch or rendering. So this afternoon, in between showers of rain, we went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to immerse ourselves in art! Any work by Van Gogh steals my breath away, but today I was most drawn to "Chestnut Gatherers" by Georges Lacombe. The colors! The flat style! (Sorry the photos don't really do it justice.) Upon setting eyes on this I wanted to wrap myself in this painting and completely immerse myself in it, to never come out. I was just in the right mood, of course. A fiery-headed woman in a yellow raincoat caught my eye, and her close proximity to some paintings completely enhanced the viewing experience for me. Dan and I went downstairs to the Asian exhibit and, passing it all by, found another exhibit dedicated to portraits, where they featured a wall of sketches/painting/studies by Picasso. Definitely a hidden gem. When I was younger, I sometimes took museums for granted, since my mom took me to so many so often. But revisiting these exhibitions with an older, more appreciative eye luckily helps invoke that awe and wonder I feared I would have felt only as a kid.