National Gallery of Art

Probably about a decade ago, I made my (so far) only visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  It must be a pretty large facility, as I recall seeing only a small fraction of the art there! Although, I arrived there later in the day than I had planned (after getting lost on the D.C. streets), and also wound up spending too much time looking for a good place to eat dinner.  The Modern Art section was the only part of the museum that I explored, which all in all made it a worthwhile day!


My favorite part of the National Gallery (that I actually saw) was this one room dedicated solely to mobiles and sculptures by the American artist Alexander Calder.   The lighthearted whimsy and youthful joy which this room emanated was surely palpable to even the least artistically interested person.  While spending considerable time basking in this room, an elderly woman approached and said "This room is magic!", to which both my traveling companion and I responded, "Yes, it is!"


One of Calder's pieces at the gallery was "Finny Fish" from the year 1948.


Large structures built by Calder were also prominently on display at the Storm King Art Center (see post dated 4-27-2011).