I went over to the Metropolitan Museum tonight and saw two fantastic exhibitions – Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions and Gustave Courbet (in reverse order – I saw the Courbet exhibit first).

The Courbet exhibition was probably the largest by Courbet I’ve ever seen or heard of and had most of his most famous works – I got a new appreciation of Gustave Courbet though I can’t say I love his work – I don’t – but I do appreciate it. Here’s some information -

Gustave Courbet
February 27, 2008–May 18, 2008
The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor

This is the first full retrospective of the French artist Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) in thirty years, presenting some 130 works by this pioneering figure in the history of modernism, from his seminal manifesto paintings of the 1850s to the views of his native Ornans and portraits of his friends and family. The exhibition also includes a selection of nineteenth-century photographs that relate to Courbet’s work, especially his landscapes and nudes. The works are drawn from public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

I spent an hour transfixed – and lost track of time tonight. I thought I was done when I left the exhibit hall, but realized there was also an exhibition on Nicolas Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions

Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594–1666)
Landscape with a Man Killed by a Snake
Oil on canvas; 47 x 78 3/8 in. (119.5 x 199 cm)
National Gallery, London. Bought 1947 (NG 5763)

Besides several paintings that I’ve admired for as long as I can remember – I also got to see Poussin’s Self Portrait – one of my favorite paintings.

Self-Portrait by Nicolas Poussin, 1650, oil on canvas, 98 x 74 cm, Louvre

I was overwealmed – saw so much tonight and took in so much energy.

Poussin’s paintings – while they’ve grayed quite a bit – have wonderul touches of blue – greens next to somber browns – seeing such a large grouping of Nicolas Poussin’s paintings in one set of rooms allowed me to appreciate paintings of his with more depth.

I left the museum and walking almost two miles, had a glass of wine and a warm roll and butter – Twittered away many Tweets – and then headed home – while it was snowing lightly.

When I got home – posted a bit over at The Analytics Guru and here.