Van Gogh at The Phillips

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and are staying safe during the Black Friday madness. 

I got a text last week from my friend Elaine asking if I wanted to go see the new Van Gogh exhibit in town. My first thought was, "There's a new Van Gogh exhibit in town?" immediately followed by, "Cool, I wonder if we can do brunch after?" So after a little further investigation and planning, we headed into the city for what we hoped would be a fun day of art and food.

We were not disappointed.

The exhibit, entitled "Van Gogh: Repetitions," is at the Phillips Collection, which is an amazing private museum tucked right off Dupont Circle. Tickets are required for the exhibit, but are only $12 ($10 for students with valid ID) and include entry into the rest of the museum. 

Elaine purchased our tickets ahead of time and had chosen the first time slot available, in hopes of avoiding a large crowd. Because we went on a Sunday, the earliest available time was 11:00 am when the museum opened. When we arrived at the museum, however, there was already a line out the door (strangely enough it was mostly will-call).

Luckily the line moved quickly and we made it into the museum without any complications. Upon entering the museum proper, we were greeted with an introduction to the exhibit. From there, we headed up to the museum's third floor, to see what masterpieces the exhibit had in store for us. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in the Van Gogh exhibit, so you will just have to go see it for yourselves.

Overall, I really enjoyed the exhibit. While I usually prefer to enjoy art for the beauty of it rather than the techniques used, it was really interesting to see different variations of the same subject. The exhibit includes series of both landscapes and portraits, with didactics showing the slight differences between each repetition. The works showcased in this exhibit include: The Road Menders, The Bedroom, The Postman, and The Moulin de la Galette, along with many others. The exhibit also touched on Van Gogh's influences and his contemporaries, although I have to admit I did not spend as much time on those parts of the exhibits, mostly because of the crowds. Although we had gone early and had an entry time, the exhibit was fairly crowded. There were people checking tickets, but they were not checking entry times, which could account for the overcrowding. There were also a few areas that seemed to easily bottleneck in the center of the exhibit, mostly around the more well-known works. 

One thing that I did learn from this exhibit was that although I have never been a fan of Van Gogh's portraits (there is just something too odd about the skin-colors he used), I really love his landscapes. There is something about the vidid colors and the perspective that just drew me in. The exhibit did what it promised to do: it draws attention to the detail and precession that went into each variation in a series. 

Since I couldn't show you the Van Gogh exhibit, I thought I would show you some of works on permanent display at the Phillips Collection. These include a room of four works by Mark Rothko.

Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (my favorite in the collection).

Several beautiful  impressionist landscapes by Pierre Bonnard.

The Wake of the Ferry II by John Sloan.

And The Opera, Paris by Raoul Dufy. This is my second favorite piece in the collection (right behind Luncheon of the Boating Party). I don't know what exactly I love about this piece, it may be the colors, the technique, or simply the feeling of the painting, but I love it. Its a must see if you go to the Phillips (Hint: its on the second floor). 

And finally, the Laib Wax Room. Yes, you read that correctly, there is a room made entirely of Beeswax. It is meant to be a meditation room, although I have to admit that I was really just curious. But it does smell really good when you are in the room.

After we found our way out of the maze of rooms and staircases, we decided to explore the shop before heading to brunch. There are always fun things in museum shops. This time my favorite was the Postman's beard. Do you think it could start a new trend?

After goofing off long enough in the museum store, Elaine and I headed off to brunch at Darlington House, which is just a short walk from the Phillips Collection. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the restaurant (really cute old row house) and our food (delicious). But what brunch would be complete without Mimosas and Bellinis?

The exhibit "Van Gogh: Repetitions" will be on display at the Phillips Collection from now until January 26, 2014.