Road Trip, Day Six: Good, Better, Best

Good, better, best … that’s how our morning museum experience went.

 

Good was the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City where the highlight was walking out with a bag of shredded money.

 

Better was the Kemper Contemporary Museum of Art which, being contemporary art, sparked deep, profound discussions:

 

~That’s just a blue square. Anyone could do that.

~Mom, come here and look. This is just so weird.

~Look at this porcupine made out of old tires.

~You mean you just sit here in this room and watch a video of a pigeon playing in the fountain? I mean, how is that even art?

 

Standing in front of Crying Giant
at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Best was The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with its ionic columns, marble staircases, interior courtyard, grand galleries, and masterpieces from all over the world. Really, one of the best American art museums I’ve been to. Just wandering through the galleries, immersing myself in art and beauty, brought out my emotional side.

 

Stupid, I know. But it’s like a part of me that I didn’t know was dormant suddenly awakened and the feelings were so intense. Like I said, stupid, but that’s just me.

 

At one point we walked into a gallery and I immediately called the boys over.

 

“That painting across the room is done in the style of chiaroscuro,” I explained. “Chiaro means light, scuro means dark, and this style of painting is about the subtleties of light and dark. The painter Caravaggio was famous for this, and his subjects would often be highlighted by a bright light of which the source was unknown.”

 

I know this because Caravaggio is one of my favorite painters.

 

We walked over to get a closer look, and … oh my gosh! ... it was a Caravaggio! Out of a room full of paintings I zeroed in on one of my favorite artists. Evidently, this is one of only a few original works of Caravaggio in an American collection, which is why St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness is one of the museum’s most prized masterpieces.

 

Okay. End of art lesson. We were in there over two hours, and during that time I created my own masterpiece. It’s entitled: 

Little Boy in an Art Museum (2014), a photo by his mother.

Timothy + two hours in an art museum = art overload

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
They had to drag me out.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we ended our day with a Sporting KC soccer game. It was our first time attending a professional soccer match, and somehow ... I mean, I could be wrong ... but I think the boys probably liked this better than the good/better/best museum experience.