Washington museums and galleries

Degas, Willard Metcalf, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, Monet, Everett Shinn . . .
I felt like I was in heaven all weekend.

Visited and loved: the National Gallery of Art, Phillips Collection, Concoran Gallery of Art, and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Degas dancers

The idea of choosing a favourite Degas painting seems daunting, but this one may be it for me. It’s the windows, which remind me of the windows at the studio I go to—although these are obviously much more stunning as they have a view of Paris in springtime, my dream—and the dancers doing temps liés.

I also love this one because it is at l’Opéra de Paris. . .


It reminds me of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photos, also in the rehearsal room at the Paris Opera:

It makes me wish that Woody Allen’s idea in Midnight In Paris were a plausible thing. How fun to imagine...

(If you also find ballet and Paris and this time period to be captivating, I highly recommend Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me The Waltz, particularly part two, chapter three, which can be found online here, and all of part three, found here. ♥)

New York, day 8

The Metropolitan Museum of Art may be my favourite place in the world. Spent about an hour with Degas. The European paintings, a day is not enough to admire them! A lot of amazing exhibits: William Eggleston, ‘Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity’, and Matisse. Fabergé and Louis XIV interiors, the American wing... too beautiful for words.

New York, day 2

mood-board seven.

I am looking forward to New York,
and then I am looking forward to spring.
I have spent the past few months snowed-in, flipping through books with the intensity of Hermione Granger, writing pages upon pages, and cannot wait (four sleeps!) to be in my favourite place in the world—going to museums, taking ballet classes, and hopefully a box of Ladurée macarons... when I return (seventeen days later), I am hoping for less slush, more walks with my puppy, pink and white tulips, more ballet classes, and reading piles of books by choice instead of obligation...
(Doesn’t Paul Cornoyer’s painting capture exactly the kind of dappled light that autumn and winter are missing? Leaves on the trees, rich shades of green, soft sunlight. It makes me think of Easter, sidewalk chalk and pastel colours.)

Ashcan School

My most recent art-related obsession has been the Ashcan School. This blog has a lot of their art, and most of the images I’ve found of their paintings come from there. I wanted to share a few favourites...

John Sloan;

Easter Eve, 1907

Movies, Five Cents, 1907

Picture Shop Window, 1907-8

Chinese Restaurant, 1909

Wet Night, Washington Square, 1928

William Glackens;

Twenty-Fifth Avenue, Interior, 1910

The Drive, Central Park, 1905

Young Woman in Green, 1915

Everett Shinn;

Girl on Stage, c. 1906

Ballet Dancers, 1911

All Night Café, 1900

The White Ballet, 1904


The Orchestra Pit, Old Proctor’s Fifth Avenue Theater, 1906-7

monday mood-board