I've got culture coming out my-

Saturday The Redhead and I had planned to spend the day with my family. They were going to come into town to spend a weekend seeing some of the sights in DC and visit with us. They ended up not being able to come due to the health of my grandfather, so The Redhead and I found ourselves facing an open Saturday with nothing in particular planned. We got off to a good start by watching a couple movies until 1:00 AM, which is a great way to start a lazy Saturday. After lounging in bed until we felt like getting up, we had an unhurried breakfast. There is nothing more delicious than lying in bed and enjoying the sensation that you have absolutely nothing to do that day. It rarely happens to me, and if it happened more often I probably wouldn’t like it because I’m too hyperactive. But the occasional free day is a wonderful experience.

Somewhere around noon we decided to go see the National Gallery of Art. So we hopped in the Metro and came out around Chinatown, grabbed something to eat, and then strolled on down to the Mall. The weather was great jacket weather, with the sun shining brightly (not something to be taken for granted in this city) and the leaves crunching underfoot. The Redhead and I had already seen the East Gallery of the Art Museum, which is the modern art wing. So we started in the lower level of the West Gallery and walked through the museum. Rather than standing there and soaking up each piece of art, we walked through each room and stopped only when something caught our eye. The sculptures by Rodin were quite good, so we spent a few minutes there. We skimmed through medieval tapestries, stained glass from the 14th Century, jeweled chalices and silver medallions. We saw pieces by Velásquz, El Greco, Goya, Picasso, Dalí, Rembrandt, Copley, Church, Rubens, Vermeer, David, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Gougin, Renoir, Degas, Saurat, and whole bunch of other artists that I can’t even remember. I’m sure I’m forgetting half of them.

The National Gallery is really rather well designed; it is divided into almost a hundred small rooms and there are 4-10 pieces in each room. It gives a sort of intimacy and quiet that enables large amounts of people to go at their own pace and still find quiet moments to examine pieces they like. I like landscapes, and so does The Redhead. (In her words: “I’m a sucker for landscapes.”) There were some really nice landscape pieces and some nice Hudson River School paintings. I was especially taken by several paintings of ships in a harbor during sunset. I know, I know, what a cliché thing to paint, but it’s beautiful in real life and inasmuch as the painter could capture the image on the canvas, it is a beautiful painting. The one I liked best was Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay, by Fitz Hugh Lane. I was disappointed when I couldn’t find a print of it in the museum store. But what I really liked were the Claude Monet pieces. Especially The Japanese Footbridge. I know Monet’s water lily paintings are about as masculine as the Power Puff Girls, but I think it’s amazing art. I got a small print of it to frame sometime, if The Redhead every permits me to have a hand in decorating any place we live.

I didn’t really like everything in the museum. The sculpture was interesting because of how complete a medium it is. I can appreciate the accuracy with which Rodin created human forms, even down to the individual strands of hair. But the Medieval tapestries got old fast, and so did the scenes of the crucifixion. Two-dimensional paintings of people dying aren’t that fun. The still-life weren’t really that thrilling to me either. But we just moved on to other rooms where we could appreciate things more. We took a break and sat in the central court with a fountain and huge black marble columns that reminded The Redhead of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring. After we saw the West Gallery we went back to the modern art gallery to reexamine some of our favorite pieces there. They have an excellent set of Rothko mural paintings there right now that I enjoyed. One of them has great colors, but we unfortunately haven’t been able to find a print of that either. They have a few Andy Warhol paintings too, which are quite iconic. The Redhead’s favorite is Birds Falling by Becker. I like it too; it’s got an intense blue and white color scheme that is rather appealing. We haven’t had any luck finding prints of that one either, though. I really would like to have some artwork in my home, but it’s hard to find the stuff you like that fits with your house. And I don’t want to be snooty about having nice artwork; I just think it looks really good. I must be really cultured. Um, yeah, that’s it.

So next time you’re in the Capital City take an afternoon and visit the National Gallery of Art. Or, as a next-best option, check out their extensive Web site and take a few virtual tours. I recommend the Monets, the Seurats, the Cézannes, the Rothkos, and of course, the landscapes.