Trekking the Gallery

Living in the DC area, one of the many highlights is living close to many excellent - and often free - museums and collections of art, bugs, Dorothy's Red Shoes, presidential portraits, planes - the list goes on. And yet living so close, life can so easily be filled up that months can pass before venturing out to drink in what is literally five miles away. (Parking tip - 7th and Virginia or 7th and D are pretty good guarantees :)

This summer, I'm trekking the National Gallery - a few galleries at a time - with the goal of seeing each gallery there is to see. "Measured enjoyment?" one friend gently asked. Of sorts perhaps - but with the slightly calculated enjoyment have come some fascinating discoveries. On Sunday's trek into the Netherland galleries, learned about cabinet art - art that was produced and purchased by the middle/upper middle class and beyond - to decorate their homes. As the brochure instructed, the outer rooms of homes in that region would often hold landscape scenes, portraits, still lifes, etc; inner rooms such as the bedroom would hold art with more moralistic meanings. Several of Vermeer's paintings on display are of this genre; the smaller size of the paintings was by design; one particular example, Vermeer's "Woman Holding a Balance" contains a picture within a picture (behind the woman is a scene from the Last Judgement with scales/balance). One of my favorite features of some of the art of the Dutch Golden Age is the use of light/dark and several of Vermeer's paintings on display make use of light and darkness.

I believe I could find room for a Vermeer in my home :)!