Today is my 73rd birthday, and yesterday was my sister Susan's birthday (age withheld by request), and so we decided to celebrate these two earthshaking events by taking in The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro's Impressionism, "the first major U.S. retrospective of Camille Pissarro, "known as the first Impressionist," in 40 years," and currently on display at the Denver Art Museum (The DAM). And yes, that is indeed me posing with Camille in the photograph on the left. Both Susan and I really enjoyed this art exhibit, which features 100 works from 50 museums and private collections from around the world. I was surprised to learn that Pissarro was born in the Danish West Indies to French Jewish parents, moving to Paris in 1855 and becoming not only the "dean of the Impressionist painters," but also a "father figure" not only to the Impressionists but also to the four major Post-Impressionists - Cezanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh.
The DAM did an excellent job in presenting this exhibit, but when we first went into the gallery, it was extremely crowded. And I think this was because each visitor was given an audio guide as they entered, resulting in everyone viewing and listening to a narration about the same painting as everyone else as they went through the gallery. Talk about a major traffic jam. Susan and I did not use the audio guides and so were able to maneuver back and forth among the art works instead of bunched together with the 200 others moving in a tight group from one painting to the other. As we progressed further into the exhibit, things seemed to open up, as seen in the photograph on the right. No doubt after a while many people just decided to say the hell with it, forget the audio guide, and simply looked at the art. This exhibit will be at the DAM through February 8th, and I highly recommend seeing it. I would also highly recommend seeing it on a weekday, unless you love big crowds. Although who doesn't?
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