A Once in a Lifetime Visit with Monet, Picasso and More

This summer, there is only one place to be to see works from the likes of Renoir, Degas, Monet, van Gogh, Dali, Picasso and Matisse. Don’t book an airline ticket to Europe, this acclaimed exhibition will take place at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

“Monet to Picasso from the Cleveland Museum of Art” features works by the leading artists of the European modernist movements dating from 1864 to 1964. More than 70 paintings, drawings and sculptures by the luminaries of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Dadaism, Cubism and Surrealism are gathered together in a single place.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is one of only four North American venues chosen to host the marquee international touring exhibition. Art enthusiasts should plan now to attend between June 23 and September 21, 2008.

The exhibition was most recently featured in Vancouver, where over 200,000 patrons viewed these master works. Prior to that, more than a half million visitors attended shows in Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul.

“The works of art that comprise the exhibition are by some of the world’s most loved artists and together, they tell the fascinating story of the development of European modernism from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century,” says Gretchen Dietrich, director of public programs and curatorial affairs for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. “We are proud to be hosting an exhibition of this caliber and confident that all those to come to see the exhibition and participate in the public programming we’ve organized to compliment it, will have a memorable and thrilling experience.”

The show features a total of 74 masterful works of art including seven works by Pablo Picasso, seven sculptures by Auguste Rodin, five works by Claude Monet and two Vincent van Gogh masterpieces.

Visitors will enjoy such recognizable pieces as Monet’s soft and expansive “Wheat Field”, Gauguin’s seductive “In the Waves” and Picasso’s dark and complex “Harlequin with Violin”.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, engages visitors in discovering meaningful connections with the artistic expressions of the world’s cultures. The museum also serves as a teaching, learning and research resource for the University.

While the museum expects hundreds of visitors from across the United States to see the likes of Gauguin and Miro, Dietrich also recommends those unfamiliar with the area take in the sights around Salt Lake City. Any time a traveler chooses to visit during the run of the exhibition is the perfect time to take advantage of Utah’s summer and fall weather for hiking, golfing and exploring the area’s national parks.

For more information on the “Monet to Picasso from the Cleveland Museum of Art” exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, please visit www.umfa.utah.edu.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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When Leu Gardens was first available to the public, it was a drive through garden complete with large paved walk ways. Since then, foot trails, benches and a gazebo have been added to accommodate the public. You can tour the complete garden in about an hour and a half, but these added courtesies allow you to rest any time you want to, so take your time and enjoy Leu Gardens.

The Old Farmhouse

When Harry Leu moved into that humble farmhouse in 1936 and transformed it into his personal garden, he probably never imagined he’d be able to turn it into a rich man’s estate, but he worked hard to make his vision a reality and today Leu Gardens still stands, ready for all to see. It’s quite a sight to behold and makes for one very relaxing afternoon.

Leu Gardens contains nearly fifty acres of manicured lawns and artistic gardens that flow from one to the other almost seamlessly. The gardens themselves are home to many exotic species of flowers and plants. However, Harry Leu’s first love was camellias. There are over two thousand specimens and twenty species at Leu Gardens. The flowers can be seen anytime from October to March, but peak in January and February. In fact, Leu Gardens is the largest collection of camellias in the nation.

Mary Jane

Leu Gardens also contains Mary Jane’s Rose Garden. This garden was added to Leu Gardens in 1990. It contains over one thousand plants and it’s one of the largest rose gardens in Florida. The roses bloom in April and last through January. However, Florida’s subtropical climate ensures that something will always be in bloom.

If you love nature and love gardens in particular, you need to visit Leu Gardens. Walk the trails, sit in the gazebo and just soak up the beauty of Harry and Mary Jane’s creations.

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But not far north, and surprisingly still part of Manhattan, is a zone of peace and quiet from the Middle Ages – The Cloisters.

Though constructed in the 1930s, on land donated by John D. Rockefeller, the museum was designed to closely resemble five medieval Cloisters. Most of the structures and collection center around two broad periods, the Romanesque (roughly from 1100-1150AD) and the Gothic (approx. 1150-1520AD).

The facility is owned and managed as a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (at Fifth Ave and 82nd St), but geographically, artistically and in setting it is worlds away.

One chapel shows the distinctive style of the Romanesque with its broad barrel vault ceilings and simplified paintings and sculpture. Here, the early Christian fresco (wall painting on wet plaster) dominates the apse, where Mary is depicted flanked by winged figures Michael and Gabriel.

The adjacent Chapter House (from Notre-Dame-de-Pontaut) is in a transitional style, showing the influence of both Romanesque and Gothic touches. Thick walls and small windows characteristic of Romanesque architecture form part of the structure, while the vaulted ceiling shows clear Gothic construction.

Chapter houses were important meeting places for monastic business and entering the structure one can easily picture being part of the discussion.

The Gothic Chapel completes the transition, displaying wide, stained-glass windows, a rib-vaulted ceiling and ample floor space. Here again the visitor is immediately enveloped in an atmosphere that takes one away from the busy city and back to the slow, quiet medieval period.

The exteriors and grounds are consistent with that peaceful aura with large expanses of grass, an herb garden and a general serenity not found in other parts of Manhattan. The views of the upper Hudson River contribute to the sense of being transported back in time to a pre-technological era.

But without question the highlights of the museum are its many artifacts of the period. Whether considering the famous Book of Hours or the even more famous Unicorn Tapestries the artwork (also funded by Rockefeller) is among the best anywhere.

The tapestries are a series of seven wool and silk weaves depicting the storied Hunt of the Unicorn. In the hangings one sees the many religious allegories that formed such a central part of medieval life.

There are many other pieces in the collection though. In the Spanish Room is located the three-paneled, 15th century Altarpiece of the Annunciation. And there are several elaborately illustrated manuscripts from the period. The three rooms of the Treasury contain several works from the 12th through the 15th centuries that are also worth a look.

The Cloisters is located at 190th Street in upper Manhattan and is easily accessible via express bus or the ‘A’ subway train.

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Sponsored in large part by the Smithsonian, and run by the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, it offers displays and videos documenting the almost 50-year history of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada.

Though the major original site for atomic bomb tests during WWII was near Alamogordo, New Mexico, by the time the hydrogen bomb came along testing had shifted to Nevada.

For more than four decades, local residents of Las Vegas and visitors to the casinos could actually feel the earth shake and then see the mushroom clouds centered in the Nevada desert test sites not too many miles away. Gamblers would head under the tables as the chandeliers swayed. Later, testing moved underground where the fallout was contained. But the man-made earthquakes were just as strong, if not more so.

As of 1992, in part due to an agreement among the major powers to end live testing, the smoke cleared and the ground became quiet. But the history of all those tests has been preserved at The Atomic Testing Museum.

Visitors can read about the growing power of H-bombs as they progressed from January, 1951 to the final test in September 1992. Along the way, the bombs got smaller and the explosions bigger. There are numerous displays, videos and even a few interactive devices. Guests can actually manipulate the same type of arms that were used to handle radioactive material behind a protective lead-glass cage.

The Ground Zero Theater gives an in-depth presentation of the efforts used to build the U.S. arsenal. In this simulated concrete bunker with red lights and wooden benches with decor to match the real thing you’ll get a glimpse into the world of the bomb makers and their products. Despite their destructive power, most people will be fascinated with the blossoming mushroom clouds produced by the gigantic explosions.

There are dozens of photographs, including one depicting one of the earliest American nuclear tests: the Bikini Atoll, 1954. One second the small island was there, the next it was vaporized.

Along with the historical and scientific displays there are collections of related memorabilia of the day, called the ‘Atom Bomb and Pop Culture’. You’ll see cereal boxes offering an Atomic Bomb ring, the once-popular ‘Atomic Cocktail’ and other items from a time when the science behind the bomb was praised not feared.

While you’re there, you can pick up an Albert Einstein T-shirt. Though he didn’t work on the project, nor did research on atomic physics, his letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt helped encourage the U.S. to initiate the research during WWII.

Housed inside the Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building, the museum was first opened in March 2005. It also employs knowledgeable staff, some of whom actually worked at the test site, who can answer visitors questions. Come get a view from those who witnessed the events first hand.

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That wonder is not merely to behold, but to operate as well. Visitors can enjoy dozens of experiments that demonstrate the principles of electricity and magnetism. Or, they can use one of the many computers to explore the leading edge technology that may make its way into homes in the near future.

The museum has two main exhibition areas – Eureka and Technocity.

Within them, young and old alike can explore the amazing intricacies of the human body. Life-sized displays of muscle clad skeletons show how the parts combine and function to allow for the amazing range of human movement. Displays and videos provide information about how medicine and technology are advancing to not only cure but improve on the basic model.

Kids and grown-ups both will enjoy all the fascinating puzzles and games available. Brain teasers, optical illusions and intricate geometric toys will give even the brainiest a real run for their gray matter. Try to outsmart a chess program or figure out why one ball looks larger than another of exactly the same size. Try to beat the clock by unlocking a group of rings that appear to have no openings.

The world of engineering is given wide support with displays on how buildings stand and, sometimes, why they fall. Bridges longer than some cities and higher than some skyscrapers are detailed, explaining how they function.

Information Studio provides numerous exhibits on how the world of computers is changing life and the growth of knowledge. Super-fast computers that use Quantum Mechanics are not far from reality. See a live demonstration of how they work. Matter Works showcases some of the most impressive technological achievements to date… and gives some clues about what’s coming up in the future.

The science center also includes one of the biggest IMAX theaters in North America. With its seven-story screen and state-of-the-art sound system, viewers will get a thrill ride through environments familiar and new. Seating almost 400, the audience can vote on how the story evolves by selecting different scenarios.

With more than 600,000 square feet of display space in a space-age glass and steel building, the iSci is a work of science and art all its own. But it also houses a fine family restaurant, the Porto Fiorentino, that seats 1,000. Have a good meal and look out over the harbor while you enjoy cooking demonstrations, piano concerts and other events held there.

Located at the corner of de la Commune and St. Laurent in Old Montreal, Le Centre des Sciences is easy to reach via the Metro (Montreal’s subway). Just exit at Champ-de-Mars. For details, see: www.montrealsciencecentre.com

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Housed partly in the triangular Eperon Building, the Pointe-à-Callière museum, as it’s called locally, is so named for the point where the St. Pierre River merges with the St. Lawrence. For on this spot were found a treasure trove of archeological finds. Here scientists unearthed artifacts of French trappers, local native tribesmen and others who have passed through the area over the centuries.

You can visit any of the four sections into which the museum is divided. The Eperon Building itself is the main section, but there is the underground Archaeological Crypt, the Ancienne Douane Building and the outdoor Place Royale.

First, catch the 15-minute video in the auditorium that explains all about the museum and its contents. Providing an excellent overview of the territory from the Ice Age to the present, it’s a fascinating history. Next, descend to below street level to see the collection.

Visitors walk on a self-guided tour through a labyrinth of cases containing items left by Scottish merchants, Iroquois and others. Part of the tour shows the city’s first Catholic cemetery with several of the original tombstones still on display.

Centuries old pottery, some surprisingly well preserved, sits alongside strikingly detailed and realistic carved masks. In some cases, objects are placed in the exact location at which they were first discovered.

Along with the artifacts there’s a permanent exhibit showcasing the history of Montreal, one of the oldest cities in North America. At the end, you exit into the Old Custom House, another popular Montreal attraction. Built in 1838, it provides an interesting look into the British influence in this largely French-origin city.

Inside the main building there is also the L’Arrivage cafe with an excellent view of Old Montreal (Vieux Montréal). Across from the main building is the Youville Pumping Station, dating from 1915 but long defunct. Fully restored, it serves as an interpretation center. Staff along the tour are happy to answer questions.

Located at 350 Place Royal, just exit the Metro (Montreal’s subway) at Place d’Armes. Details are available at the website: http://www.pacmusee.qc.ca/

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The older, neo-Classical building, the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, is on the north side of Sherbrooke. The newer building, the Jean-Noel Desmarais Pavilion, was finished in 1991. Each is worthy of a day-long visit. Here, art lovers will find 19th century Canadian paintings and drawings, along with art from all over Europe, Asia and Africa.

The collection’s offerings are not exhausted by traditional paintings and drawings. There are decorative objects, items of Mediterranean archeology and native crafts from the North American continent.

In the Mediterranean section there are marble funerary lekythos, a Hellenistic-Roman torso and a new Apollo sculpture forming the centerpiece of the collection. Next door are the Near/Middle Eastern and Egyptian collections. Luristan bronzes, used to adorn horses in the 6th-4th centuries BC, sit not far from ancient wooden objects from Egypt.

Since 2001, a part of the museum collection has been objects from the renowned Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Everything from a Hoffman chair to a Japanese incense box of exquisite delicacy can be seen here. It also holds prototypes of bentwood furniture designed by architect Frank Gehry.

In addition, the museum houses art from around Quebec, the eastern Canadian province in which Montreal is situated. There are also artifacts from the natives in the far north and west.

The European masters collection is the equal of many larger, more well-known museums. Here there are grisaille paintings by Mantegna. Baroque art from the French, Italian and Flemish count works by Poussin, de Witte and Bruegel the Younger. 18th century works include portraits by Hogarth and street scenes by Canaletto. Religious paintings by Tiepolo sit not far from a fine Gainsborough.

Later artists are represented as well. The Musée des Beaux-Arts holds many 19th century products of the Barbizon school, including Corot and Daumier. A Tissot is just down the walk from art by Renoir and Pissaro, Monet and Cézanne. The 20th century is also well represented with works by Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Dali.

With around 25,000 objects, it is far from the largest museum of the type, but some of the items are unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else. Located at 1379 Sherbrooke Street West, the museum is easy to reach via the Metro (Montreal’s subway). For details, see: http://www.mbam.qc.ca

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Surrounded by beautiful botanical gardens, visitors have the opportunity to spend hours enjoying this early 19th century site and its contents. The museum was completed in 1819 and the bulk of the early collection was drawn from paintings gathered by Spanish nobility.

It’s expected that the recent disagreements over the new wing under construction will be resolved soon and it will completed not long after. If that happens, art lovers will be able to add to the list of works worth seeing those long held in storage. Zurbarán, Pereda and many more in the vault will considerably expand the works on display.

But those available now make the Prado well worth a day-long stroll. Apart from the aforementioned Spanish masters, there are numerous works by the Flemish, Dutch, German, French, and Italians. Many of these were acquired by conquest from the time that Spain was one of the leading powers of Europe.

But however they were collected, the works themselves remain timeless examples of what artists in any era can achieve.

Walk through the ‘Goya entrance’, on the ground floor at the start of your journey and pause to enjoy the masterpiece of Fra Angelico, La Anunciación a la Virgen María. Not far away are some other excellent Italian works – by Botticelli, Mantegna, del Sarto and Corregio. Don’t miss Titian’s Venus.

Carry on to see a number of works by Bosch, possibly the world’s first surrealist. There’s the Garden of Earthly Delights, the Seven Deadly Sins, and others. Centuries ahead of his time, these 16th century paintings are the product of what can at least be called a ‘vivid imagination’.

On the second floor are several 17th century Flemish, including works by Rubens and van Dyck. Rubens’ Garden of Love and Three Graces are on display. Nearby are some works by the famed mid-17th century Seville painter Murillo. His three Immaculate Conceptions are among the highlights of the collection.

But unquestionably the star attractions are the major Spanish masters, particularly Goya and El Greco. It is these works that draw the most traffic.

El Greco, though born in Crete (hence the name), lived much of his life in Toledo, Spain. There he produced his John the Baptist, The Adoration of the Shepherds, The Resurrection and others in his distinctive style.

Works of Goya, too, are numerous and display the full range of styles he used over the years. Those painted later in life form some of his most striking. Saturn Devouring One of His Sons is perhaps the most representative of this period. Of course, Goya’s clothed Maja and Naked Maja both continue to draw visitors year after year.

The Museo del Prado is proudly offered as one of Madrid’s most highly sought out tourist destinations. When you visit that magnificent city, be sure to see for yourself why that is so.

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The building itself makes the trip worthwhile. Completed in 1880, the Italian Renaissance design sports an ornate terracotta facade with several stepped arches. It looks as much like a Gothic cathedral as a museum. Terracotta was popular, as it stood up well to Victorian soot. The exterior is festooned with hundreds of carvings that reflect the contents of the interior.

Inside, there are displays as old as 1750 and as new as today. The original collection was formed from a bequest of the estate of Dr. Sloane, physician to Queen Anne. Comprising books, dried plants and animal and human skeletons and much more, it was transferred from the original site, Montague House, which had served for more than 100 years. The collection, originally part of the British Museum, grew to require its own building.

Expanding in the 19th century, as explorers and naturalists brought back specimens from their travels, the museum grew to house the largest dinosaur collection anywhere. The long-ago erected giant Diplodocus skeleton is one of the more prominent symbols of the collection in Waterhouse Way.

Today that collection has even become animated as several of the life-sized reptiles have been re-cast in animatronics. T-Rex shows his ferocious, teeth-lined jaw in motion while velociraptors battle oviraptors. Visitors can get a real sense of how the dinosaurs not only looked, but moved and sounded.

Out of the millions of specimens, some of the oldest are still the most spectacular. The mineral exhibit holds an array of quartzes, gemstones and rocks that dazzle the eye and the mind. The variety possible from a few simple elements will amaze kids and adults alike.

But the exhibits aren’t all as static as rocks. There is a floating squid (preserved from a live specimen netted in the Falkland Islands) that’s a full 8m (26 feet) long and still looking very lifelike. There are also scaled down erupting volcanoes and simulated earthquakes that give a good view of how dynamic the Earth is.

Visitors can get an inside look at people and animals too. There are skeletons galore, but also a Human Biology Gallery that allows viewers to walk through a birth-simulation chamber. And the remains of a 25m(82-foot) Blue whale is suspended overhead in one section.

The new Darwin Centre showcases 22 million samples – many that the famed naturalist gathered on his voyages. There’s a frog from Seychelles Islands and a Komodo dragon, among many others. Nearby are items from the Creepy Crawlies Gallery. Among the creepy is a giant scorpion that will frighten some children and amuse others.

Many of the exhibits allow hands-on interaction with the objects and discussions with the working scientists who study them. Take advantage of the opportunity to find out first hand about ongoing research and the latest discoveries.

The Natural History Museum is easy to reach via the London Underground, i.e. ‘the tube’ or subway. Exit at South Kensington.

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Having no Royal collection with which to begin, the museum found its start with the purchase of a mere 38 paintings from the estate of a recently deceased banker, J.J. Angerstein. Housed in his home at 100 Pall Mall for the first 10 years of its existence, the National Gallery opened to the public there in 1824.

Finding the museum frequently overcrowded and ill-adapted for the display of paintings, the directors finally persuaded Parliament to sponsor a new home near Trafalgar Square. The move was fortunate and the collection expanded accordingly.

During its first 30 years the galleries housed mostly 15th and 16th century Italian paintings, many of which are still on display. But over the decades the collection has grown to encompass representatives from 1250 AD to 1900 AD.

(Though it still houses works from the early 20th century, a decision was reached in 1996 to cut off acquisitions for any work post-1900 and several trades were arranged with the Tate Britain.)

The works, which number in the thousands, now cover every great name and hundreds of lesser ones. Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait at 34 is here, as is da Vinci’s Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John. Titian’s Death of Actaeon was purchased in 1972 and Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks in 2004. A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal (a musical instrument) by Vermeer is also here.

Holbein the Younger’s The Ambassadors is part of the collection along with Botticelli’s Venus and Mars and Velásquez’ Rokeby Venus. Canaletto’s Regatta on the Grand Canal and The Stonemason’s Yard are here, showing the artists typically excellent sense of perspective and details of figure.

But there are several much later works, as well. Cézanne’s Les Grandes Beigneuses is here. And what museum would be complete without a Monet Water-Lily Pond or a Renoir, such as The Umbrellas?

But unquestionably among the most well-known works in the Gallery are the Van Eyck Arnolfini Portrait – found in nearly every art history book – along with J.M.W. Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

Few major additions, though many minor and controversial ones, were made to the building until the addition of the Sainsbury Wing in 1991. That, too, was controversial but nearly everything in the art world is among some. The addition is modern, but nowhere near as large a contrast as the I.M. Pei addition to the Louvre. One of the highlights housed in the new wing is an altarpiece by Cima of The Incredulity of St Thomas.

In 2004, the museum gained a new ground level entrance from Trafalgar Square as part of the East Wing Project.

Nearby, and technically part of the collection, is the National Portrait Gallery. This separate building houses many of Britain’s most outstanding portraiture from the 15th through the 20th centuries.

Reaching the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery is easy via the London Underground i.e. ‘the tube’ or subway. Exit at Charing Cross station.

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