Atlanta, GA

Currently at the High Museum of Art are two fantastic exhibits – the second installment of the Louvre – Atlanta collection and Inspiring Impressionism.

The second portion of the Louvre exhibit with the High Museum of Art focuses on the antiquities collection of art from Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Josephine. The collection includes near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman art. There are astounding pieces that date back as far as 4200 B.C. such as writing symbols found in Susa, modern day Iran or a small withered statue of a man with a goat dating back to 2450 B.C. Some of my personal favorite pieces were a gladiator suit and frescos from Pompeii that were gifts to Napoleon and Josephine. Anything discovered from the once lava buried city of Pompeii is a treasure and the healthy condition of the pieces are something to be amazed. I was also a fan of the Egyptian art which was collected during Bonaparte’s prescence in Egypt. Maybe I’ve seen too many Brendan Fraser films but these statues exude a strong presence of power. The mysticism of Egyptian life and feeling like a statue could either come to life or contain some power to aid or detriment your life.

My brother makes fun of me for this but I am a big fan of reading all the literature printed on art exhibit walls, and I happily accept exhibit headsets that describe specific pieces in the show. For both the Louvre and Impressionism, headsets are available free of charge with two listening options for adults and children. Through the recorded information, I learned a lot about the relationship between Napoleon and his wife Josephine which for me was as equally enjoyable as the artwork on display. My friend who visited the museum with me opted to not use the headset but seemed intrigued by the facts I learned and then shared.

Inspiring Impressionism exhibit contains paintings from such well-known artists as Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, and Renoir. The exhibit has an interesting layout by placing the Impressionism on the same wall with the painting that inspired the artist’s Impressionism piece. To take a step back, Impressionism was a new form of artwork the debuted in Paris in 1874. To explain this style of painting, I would like to quote Cher from the movie Clueless, “She’s a play on Monet. From far away she looks okay but up close it’s just a big mess.” Monet was an Impressionist and this style of artwork takes clear lines of painting to a fuzzier, more wavelike brushstroke. I suggest googling the term and looking at images. Since I saw the first Atlanta-Louvre collection, I actually felt much more educated when seeing the Impressionism exhibit because there were two paintings that were on display in that collection that were inspirations for two Impressionist paintings. Also, I learned that these Impressionists all spent time in the Louvre copying paintings on display as part of his/her art education.

Inspiring Impressions is on display through January 13.
The Louvre and the Ancient World (2nd Louvre-Atlanta installment) is on display through September 7. For more information, please visit the High Museum of Art website.

To read about a previous event at the High that let visitors stay all night at the museum, read more here.