VMFA

To see hundreds of works in a few hours,
And come away with only several dozen
Moments of transcendence
Felt … a bit flat.

Until I thought about all I saw in those few hours.

A torso by Praxiteles.
Faience, brilliant blue Egyptian pottery, breathtaking.
A mummy.
Papyrus with hieroglyphics.
An enormous Roman mosaic.
Early Renaissance feathers, painted precisely.
A lovely nude of Venus by Artemesia Gentilleschi.
A painting of grapes by Soreau, luminous beyond imagining.
A Fabrege egg. For real! Right there!
A portrait of Lydia Schabelsky. Gorgeous. And what is she thinking?
The Little Dancer by Degas.
A vanishing ship on the sea by Magritte.
A fascinating room of prints, demonstrating nightfall:
Rembrandt, Hopper, Gericault; Yankee Stadium and Taos.
A Tiffany vase.
A Rousseau of a gorilla trying to steal a spear from a man.
A bowl of daisies by Van Gogh.
A Rothko black on black.
Renoir’s son, painting studiously.
A Monet wintry scene: so chilly. And a more cheery flower field.
A painting of John Marshall, beautifully done. (He looked nice.)
A glorious canvas of a woman by John Singer Sargent.
An Audubon eagle.
Landscape with a wing: a response to the Holocaust.
A Jasper Johns that looked grey, but with hidden color.
A Diebenkorn with such beautiful colors, it mesmerized me.
A Calder mobile!
Three stylized lemons on a plate.
A roseate, misty painting.
A Hopper apartment building. Everyone is isolated. Always.
Colored streaks flowing down a canvas.
Red reeds made of glass in a shallow fish pond. Chihuly. Glorious.
And my favorite: a mango, with other fruit, by Gauguin.

Three dozen moments of transcendence?
We should all be so lucky!