Our Life: Ringling Museum of Art

The kids with our friend, Henry

We had a wonderful day exploring the Ringling Museum of Art (and surrounding gardens). The museum is free on Mondays, so my friend Amy and I decided to give it a try.

I have never been to an art museum before...but that has all changed. I can not wait to go back!

Enjoying the rose garden

Looking for the pretties rose

The grounds were amazingly beautiful. Mature banyans, rose gardens, native and exotic plants fill the walkway.

We took a few minutes and walked around the Ca d'Zan Mansion (Venetian for 'house of John' (I could imagine a "Great Gatsby-esque party on the back patio). The owners were the founders of the Ringling Circus, and the performance influence was easy to see .

Maybe next time I will get to venture inside this beautiful home.

The children played in the play area for a few minutes before the heat forced us inside.

The museum itself was modeled after the old Roman times with pillars, sculptures, statues, and marble. Inside was a variety of exhibits.

Our first stop was the temporary collection "Intent to Deceive- Fakings and Forgeries in the Art World." The kids had fun trying to predict which piece of art was real and which was the fake (actually, I think they just liked to lift the flap). We learned about the 'artists' who not only copied well known pieces of art, but tried to pass them off as authentic. I should have written the names down and some of their quotes because we could not take pictures in that exhibit, but the post-modern thought of these men permeated their decisions. One man said something along the lines of "I only sold my replicas to experts who should have been able to test and know the authenticity of the work. If they couldn't tell it was a fake, that wasn't my fault, but theirs." Another man said, "If my art hangs in museums long enough...then it becomes real." The sad part was...these men were getting just what they wanted. They were becoming famous for their crime, and their work was hanging in museums...thus, in a way, making them real.

It's interesting because the best way to become a master at something is to imitate an expert who has come before you. Even Bejamin Franklin did this, to better his writing skills, he would imitate a writer he wanted to be like. So, a wonderful way of becoming a better artist is to imitate the person you would like to be like. I'm pretty sure that is Biblical too. The apostle Paul tells us to imitate him, as he imitates Christ. So, these men were in fact great artists, the problem is that they were also liars. They were not master artists like Monet because after they imitated Monet, they had to put his name on it to try to make it worth something.

After a quick picnic lunch, we made our way back to the museum and entered the wonderful hall of classic Renaissance, Classical, Romantic, and Baroque artists. It was Amazing!

The courtyard was beautiful.

The kids have never experienced an art display like this. I think we were all quite shocked at the amount of nudity in the pictures and statues (well, they didn't say anything about the paintings, just the statues. Distraction...distraction was key here...) We got to see painting that were over 400 years old and even by artists we have learned about in CC including Rembrandt, El Greco, and Gainsborough.

Lamentations by Rembrandt c.1635

Decorative Wall Covers by Juriaan Andriessen c. 1800 (see below)

A Harpsichord (pre-piano). We have learned about this instrument when studying Mozart, who was known for his harpsichord playing. The instrument plucked the string, instead of pounding them like the modern day piano. Very different sound.

1652

Pretty much what they looked like.

A glass crib. The kids weren't sure what to think about it.

The following pieces are a few of Peter Paul Ruben's pieces from the 1600s. The Ringling Museum houses 5 of the 7 remaining tapestries from this artist.