Last weekend I went to Washington DC to accompany my sister on a speech tournament. I could do that because school is over. Since the group had free time, we went to various museums around the city. I went to the National Gallery of Art (NGA) which was great fun especially because it was so hot outside. The museum was big but not huge like the Louvre or the Hermitage, and I felt like I saw most of it. It’s a gorgeous building with an atrium on either side – where one can sit and relax. There was a Sally Mann photography exhibition going on in the museum. Her large black and white landscapes of the South were really stunning. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the exhibition.
I spent a long time admiring the John Singer Sargent paintings in the museum. Sargent (1856 – 1925) is an American artist, who was trained in France, and lived in London. He is heavily influenced by Spanish master artist Velazquez, whom he studied passionately. Interestingly, Sargent also painted murals which can be found in the Boston public Library and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The NGA in DC has some beautiful Sargent works which I photographed (with permission of course). The paintings in the museum show his versatility as an artist – his landscapes, portraits, interiors are all equally beautiful. It’s very difficult to pick a favorite but if I had to, I would pick the lady in the white silk gown with the paisley shawl. I had a really fun time in the museum because I saw a lot of stuff but focused on one artist the most. Others may not like to focus on one artist as they feel it limits their enjoyment of the museum – for me it was great fun.
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