Rainy Day in Paris

Paris Street; Rainy Day, Gustave Caillebotte, 1877
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Today is our first day of summer vacation. While I had planned to pack up the littles and take them to our little neighborhood pool's opening day, at 64 degrees and rainy mother nature isn't cooperating. So instead we're off for a day of museum browsing and maybe a little lunch in the city.

Just a quick post to share one of my favorite rainy day paintings. So often I think of rainy days as being rather glum or perhaps rather the kind of day I'd like to stay in bed with a good book. Alas, with two pre-schoolers running around arguing who will be Master Yoda and who will be Darth Vader in their all day and all night Star Wars reenactments there is little chance of that for me today or any day for that matter. I should get back to today's painting pick.

A day spent walking in Paris, rainy or not is an inspirational day so when I look at  Gustave Caillebotte's painting, Paris Street; Rainy Day I don't see a gloomy day at all. I see one of excitement and new adventures. I wonder what the couple featured in the painting is looking at? Perhaps a new shop opening? A new building coming up? At the time this painting was created there was so much change going on in Paris I can only imagine how this neighborhood's residents were reacting.

As I was searching to find who owns this painting I was pleasantly surprised to learn it is The Art Institute of Chicago. If you haven't wandered through the galleries of this amazing museum you are missing out. It is an Impressionist lovers dream museum. The family and I will be in Chicago this summer and a stop at the Art Institute is on the top of my list. The painting is finishing up a traveling exhibition, that I was dying to see, Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity. And if you find yourself in New York City this Memorial Day weekend you can see it in person at the Met through May 27th. After that it'll be returning to Chicago.

Cheers,
Ouiser

Allies Day Remembered

Allies Day, Childe Hassam, 1917
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

As I was driving in my neighborhood this morning I noticed someone had hung three flags, The American flag, the Union Jack and the French flag in front of their home. It reminded me of one of my very favorite paintings, Childe Hassam's Allies Day. 

It rather fitting to post it today, as its the anniversary of the first of two parades held in New York City to celebrate the end of World War I. On a side note, I'm a lover of parades. I'm lucky to live in a city that seems to feel the same. Old Town Alexandria has a certain small town charm that offers the perfect setting for parades. 

I've always had a soft spot for Impressionist paintings. They were some of the first first paintings that drew me into museums. And it was those first experiences that fostered an interest and eventually a love of art in many different forms. Childe Hassam was the first American artist that I was as enthralled with as those French rebels. It is easy to fall in love with Paris, the Normandy coast and the gardens of Giverny but what Hassam, and several other American artists of his day offer is an alluring look into our own backyard. I love to travel but appreciating your own cities and country side can be just as inspirational. 

If I could paint, which is a big IF, I would paint the enormous, sixty year old trees in our back yard whose long branches sway softly in the breeze. As the sun sets at night and I sit on our porch I feel as if I've escaped into the country. Ya know, that is until I hear a train passing, an ambulance blaring or one of the kids yelling at me for any variety of reasons. 

What do you see in your everyday life that could be made beautiful with an Impressionist's eye? 

Cheers, 
Ouiser