Friday Field Trip.... Balboa Park

I've been waiting anxiously to make it to the San Diego Art Museum's Impressionists of Giverney exhibit since reading about Lissa's visit with her children.
Luckily they extended the Sept 30th date through October 14th. So we were going at the last minute!

“Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915” at the San Diego Museum
of Art spans the 30-year period bookended by Giverny’s first bohemian
arrivals, to the exodus of all foreign-born colonists necessitated by World
War I.

Impressionism is my favorite period of art. Monet is very popular as is Renoir around our home. The chance to see more Monet art is exciting.
My favorite exhibit was seeing his art at the Bellagio Gallery in Las Vegas 3 years ago. (there is still a link) The collection was absolutely amazing! The exhibit included Monet's works that are usually displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I felt in a dream world because it was amazing to be able to be so close to the actual Monet paintings that are very famous including Water Lillies and The Water Lilly Pond. I held my breath as I leaned in to examine the brush strokes. I was amazed at his liberal use of paint. So thick in most of his paintings.
I usualy think of the terms "struggling artist", "starving artist", painters who were so poor they sold off furniture and did not eat to spend all of their money on paint. Didn't Van Gogh borrow money from his siblings? And here was Monet laying paint on so thickly as if it were cheap.

We were honored with a Monet exhibit in San Diego a few years ago also.
Wow, I found a link and it was back in 1998.
That exhibit featured paintings of his Giverny gardens from the Musée Marmottan in Paris.

James & Katie enjoyed the pictures. Derek mainly pulled my arm and asked to leave. Oh well.
There were not a lot to see and most were landscapes. There were many haystacks.
I had to look for things in the paintings to keep everyone looking a little longer.
Can you count the cows Derek?
What do you think that woman is doing by the side of the stream?
One painting was of a town street and at the very end was a church with a flag.
After reading Madeline in Paris last week and coloring the same flag I was happy Katie recognized the French flag when I asked here. It was no larger than your fingernail. So if she had missed that would have been OK.

We arrived about 12:30 and we were done around 2:15.

I told the kids that there was an Egypt and mummy exhibit at the Museum of Man.
(that again I read about on Lissa's blog)
So we headed down the sidewalk.

I had been planning to buy Family Membership passes at the Art Museum (regularly $75 I was able toget them for $65... just ask for the online discount)
I was not as eager to get the same at Museum of Man. However, the receptionists were very animated about all of the exhibits at the museum and the childrens' area and the mummies that I went ahead and gave my $50. Well it's a donation to support our community and the arts right?!

The kids are studying the Mayans so we stopped at that exhibit first. Gigantic carved stone pillars were on display. The Mayans were very dedicated the their calendar.
Next we headed upstairs and found the middle of the exhibit where they are comparing Man, monkeys and apes. Further in they show how they date acheological digs.
We finally made it to the Egypt & mummy exhibit. It was small.
My children were also facinated by the Lemon Grove Girl's mummified remains.
I didn't tell them about what Lissa said of her history...(young men grave robbers that left her in a box in someone's garage for 14 years!)
There was none of that information at the exhibit. Only signs showing how they use teeth, bones and physical development to guess at the age of the remains.
My children were more concerned with WHY did she die? Why was she curled up? How could she die with a baby in her tummy?
I explained that she was malnourished and probably died of starvation, her body could not survive taking care of herself as well as an unborn child.

We left a little dazed and confused. We were interested in the mummy part but now it seem strange to be looking at the remains of a real person, improperly placed in a museum for all of us to look at.

OK on to the beauty of nature and the Botanical Garden with the Koi fish pond and Lily pads out front: Here are the photos...................

THE KOI FISH