the museum of modern art

Friday nights are free at the MoMA, so last night Garrett and I met Blake in the city for a peek at their collections.


It's a funny thing about New York City art museums. No matter which one I'm wandering around in, I automatically feel smart just doing so. I see a painting I recognize from a humanities class or a name I heard dropped in a round on Jeopardy! and all of a sudden brilliance oozes from me: "I remember learning about that guy!" or "That's a famous painting" or even just "Wasn't he the one guy who started that one movement...you know the one?" Perusing an art museum does wonders for my ego.

Anyway, our visit was whirlwind and dizzying, but here are a few highlights of what we saw:



There was one room solely devoted to Claude Monet. You walk in and are completely blown away by the enormity of the three-panel Water Lilies. I was seriously thisclose to actually sitting on the banks of Monet's pond in Giverny. It was breathtaking.



Until the end of March the museum has a special exhibit on display titled "50 Years of Helvetica." Who knew a font could be so awesome? The poster above was one of my favorites.



And let's not even start talking about the MoMA's spectacular Picasso collection. We'll just leave it at the fact my love for Picasso and his brilliance is pretty much undying.



My own personal highlight of the visit, though, was getting to see Van Gogh's The Starry Night up close and in person. Oh my goodness, you guys: there is a reason this painting is so well-loved and famous. I kept having to go back and look at it just-one-more-time. And then I had to pinch myself because I was standing in front of one of Van Gogh's most beautiful pieces.

So, quiz time: How many of these other pieces we saw do you recognize?


And more importantly, does this vicarious visit to the MoMA, one of New York City's most fabulous museums, make you feel any smarter?

Good. Because it should.