Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA

Monet was famous for his water lily paintings.
Two hang in the French Impressionist room

Wednesday I hung out with my son in the first time in a month. We made plans to do something since it was one of his day's off and I could get out of work by 3 pm. I wanted him to decide what we did, that way he was guaranteed to have fun. If whatever he chose turned out to be boring, at least it would be on him. I didn't care what we did, it was just nice to have some father-son time with my 20 year old. 

I thought for sure he would want to do something active outside. I figured he'd plan a hike and possibly some food. To my surprise he suggested the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. The museum is free on Wednesday's after 4 pm ($20/ person normally) however they ask for a donation, which we gladly handed over a few dollars. 

We drove into Quincy and took the Red Line from Quincy Adams parking garage. We switched over to the Orange Line and got off in Chinatown. DJ knew of a little corner store that had delicious cheap pork rolls. I don't know how to describe them. They were warm buns about softball sized stuffed with some kind of pork and a sweet gravy. They were very good and $1.20 each. For both of us we had a total bill of seven dollars including our two drinks. From Chinatown we had a long walk to the MFA. I think part of DJ's master plan was to walk through Boston. It was a solid 2-3 miles to the MFA. We arrived there sometime around 5 pm.

Once we paid our donation we made a beeline to the French Impressionist, most notably Claude

A sculpture of Homer the writer of
the Iliad and Odyssey. Homer was blind and the sculpture
portrays that

Monet. Then we walked around the other European Art. We blew right through the Contemporary Art. Call me an art snob all you want, but when an "artist" throws a bunch of colors together and gives the work a fancy name that my son could have made at five years old, it does nothing for me.

The really cool thing about the art museum, is it is more than just paintings, it is history. There is a lot of Egyptian artifacts from mummies, tombs, hieroglyphics, and pottery. There is a room dedicated to Roman coins. There are shields and helmets from Greek warriors. The list goes on and on. 

My favorite history, however, are the rooms with paintings from Colonial times. There is a special feeling you get from seeing a painting that was in your high school yearbook on a wall. Two of the most famous portrait artists in the world lived in New England. They would be John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart. Between the two of them they probably painted more people in our history books than everyone else combined.

We spent about four hours in the museum. We used the map and went to everything of interest to us. In four hours we saw about 85% of the exhibits. We have been there a few times before so we "skipped" reading a lot of the descriptions. If it had been my first time, I could have easily spent two full days there without being bored. The MFA is my Number 1 place in New England to see "awe inspiring" things. To see a painting from the beginning of the Renaissance or a coin that has Nero's

We have all seen this portrait of Paul Revere in our
history books. The original is at the MFA

face on it blows me away. Seeing sculpture that is 2500 years old or a  page from "The Book of the Dead" placed in Egyptian coffins is something I will always remember. I'd say that my son made a hell of a good choice for the day,.   

Beirstadt Painting of Yosemite Valley

Washington crossing the Delaware

 

Although I am not religious, I like religious themed art.
Religion was such a part of early life. Here
is the Garden of Eden. Eve is about to eat the forbidden
fruit. The snake is slithering away to our left.

Georgia O'Keeffe lived a lot of her life in New Mexico
She painted many southwest themed landscapes. Although she is most famous for painting
flowers that may or may not resemble vaginas, no one would argue her southwest paintings such as
this are breath taking.