Top five gallery experiences

On Wednesday, I visited the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) with my friend Leah. She’d never been there before, and we both wanted to spend an afternoon doing something cultural.

Visiting the museum was fantastic – just as it normally is – and as I walked through the marble hallways I began to reflect on past experiences…

I have always loved art. Paintings especially have always held my interest, and it was the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movement specifically that first drew me into the art world. The soft colours of Monet’s Water Lillies, the vivid swirls of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and even the vibrant details of Toulouse-Lautrec’s Can Can Dancers have always fascinated and comforted me.

Looking back, I can’t remember the first time I visited an art gallery. However, I can rate my top five art gallery experiences of all time without hesitation…

Five: Andy Warhol at the WAG

It was January of 2007 when my boyfriend Jeff and I visited the WAG for the first time. We wanted to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit, which was fantastic. What made the date even better was the fact that we accidentally stumbled across Frank Warren’s Post Secret Exhibit on our way out. We both love his books, and didn’t know the collection was being shown at the gallery.

A favourite Warhol painting...

Four: The Art Institute of Chicago’s hidden treasures

I visited Chicago twice during CreComm, and both times I spent a few hours at the Art Institute. It houses a huge collection of art, including a few surprisingly important pieces. It was here that I saw

Three: The Art Gallery of Ontario and Jackson Pollock

This past August, Jeff and I again stumbled across an exhibit by an artist we love. The travelling New York Exhibit features work from a variety of artists, including Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner. We had literally just watched a documentary about Pollock before getting on the plane to Toronto. What are the odds of that?

Two: Musee d’Orsay and a floor of Impressionist art

When travelling to Paris everyone visits Musee de Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, but for me it was Musee d’Orsay that held the appeal. Built inside an old train station, the museum doesn’t just hold paintings, but antique furniture, clothing and models of Paris.

Standing in front of Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone -

my second favourite Van Gogh painting!

I spent a number of hours surrounded by famous paintings (including Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Rembrandt), but the museum as a whole is worth spending a day wandering through.

One: The National Gallery in London and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

It’s funny, but even after spending half a day in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I still remember the National Gallery as my favourite Van Gogh moment. My brother and I had just arrived in Europe, and we stumbled across the gallery on a day when admission was free. We both desperately wanted to hide from the rainy and gloomy day, so we went inside.

It was inside this ancient museum that I saw Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. It was the first Van Gogh painting I had ever seen in person, and I didn’t want to leave the museum. Photography of any kind was prohibited in the National Gallery, but my brother could see how much the painting meant to me. While I distracted the nearby security guard, he snapped a few poorly angled shots of the masterpiece so we would always remember the moment.