The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

A number of weeks ago, I traveled all the way uptown, to the Guggenheim, or the “Googy” as my grandmother calls it, to view Picasso Black and White. Surprisingly, this was my first visit to the museum and boy was I mesmerized. Even before entering the famed, spiral-like building, I was blown away. The architecture of the building mixed with the location-across from Central Park on a perfect Fall Sunday made my visit to the museum an incredible one.

After meeting my grandmother at the lobby of the museum, we both headed to the counter for our free tickets-mine being from our ever so amazing cultural passport, and hers because she has some fancy subscription of some sort to all the classy places in the City. It was recommended that we start from the bottom up, so off we went.

Wow were we in for a treat. The museum was masked in black and white. Not a single color to be scene which is shocking for an art museum. What I love most about the  Guggenheim is its focus on a core exhibition-how the museum transforms to revolve around one temporary exhibit, pushing the permanent collections to the side and letting the temporary exhibition shine in all its glory. Well, Picasso Black and White surely did shine! The massive paintings lined the walls of the entire museum making us feel like we were residing in Picasso’s personal studio. Over 50 (I’d say) drawing and paintings took over the space, making us live and breathe Picasso. We were amazed at  the size and stature of the work, the impeccable curatorial skills that went into the show, and the ambiance of the building.

Yet, as we neared the third floor, things seemed to get old. Many of the Picasso’s seemed repetitive-how many pictures of women’s breast can the guy have drawn? How many different variations of the same head was he able to come up with? Even worse, all the works were in black and white. Although the air was crisp and it was a sunny day out, one couldn’t help but feel dark and gloomy after spending an hour surrounded by shades of grey. (No, not 50 shades of grey, few shades of stark white and dreary grey)

All in all, I am happy with my visit to the Guggenheim and am excited to go back. It was an afternoon well spent with my grandmother and definitely a learning experience. I admire how the Guggenheim focuses on what exhibit-made it easy and enjoyable for the viewer and museum goer, however given the large space of the museum, a shorter exhibit would’ve done it just as well for me.