About 2 months ago, Sarah went with her school class to the art museum in downtown Zurich. She really enjoyed it and came home with lots of stories about what they saw and did there. They were part of a newspaper article, which we received a free copy of, talking about art and how it influences children's development. Anyway, as a thank you to the children for participating and being so good about getting their photos taken, they were each given a card that was good for free admission for two adults at any time. Since my mom was here visiting, I figured that was as good a time as any to use them. Also, it was still raining by Thursday, and an art museum is an excellent indoor activity. 🙂
The trip started off with two good omens. 1) I did not get lost driving to it, and 2) we found a parking space that was as close as physically possible to the entrance of the museum. This is a pretty big accomplishment as there is no parking directly next to the museum, only what you can find on the street, and in a parking garage several blocks away. They were having a special exhibit of Monet, Van Gogh, and someone else I can't remember, but that was not in the regular museum, rather in an exhibition hall off to the side. We opted to skip that, (or not pay for that) and just see the regular artworks the museum had on display.
Since Sarah had been there before, she knew just where we should start. :) The thing I really like about most European museums, is that the buildings are just as beautiful, old and valuable as the art pieces they house. This one was no exception. I loved the old creaky wooden floors, the huge, wide stone-carved staircases, and the intricate details of the ceilings. So beautiful!
Just as we were about to enter the first room of paintings, a worker of the museum came run/walking up to us and made sure the children knew to not touch anything, to walk, not run, and not to be too loud. We thanked him graciously and went on our way. It's not his fault he doesn't know my children are art museum pros, and actually LOVE visiting them, and are always respectful. I realize it isn't the norm for most little kids. But am grateful it's the norm for mine.
Anyway, we had some excellent discussions on why the artists painted what they did, who paid for it, what the pictures represented, and whether they liked it or not. We decided that still life paintings were not our cup of tea, much too boring, and often had freaky dead animals placed in the middle of an otherwise pleasant bowl of fruit. :) The ones of people were only interesting if you knew who the person was and why they were important enough to have their picture painted. But they loved the pastoral scenes, and the ones portraying village life, or scenes from history.
We took a short jaunt through the modern art section, but quickly left again. Most of that stuff either looks like a 3 grader painted it, or is just too bizarre looking for us to try and "get" it. There were even a couple Andy Warhol paintings there, and my mom and I were both like, "Seriously, how is this guy famous?" But to each their own. And as I said to my mom, "I am sure that's what people said about Monet and his Impressionism when it was new, but now it's my favorite style, so…" We did see several Monet's and Van Gogh's that were part of the regular display. Seriously, I could stare at them for hours. So beautiful and peaceful, and the colors, aaaahhh. Lovely, just lovely.
There was also a large room dedicated to Swiss painters. But unfortunately for them, the biggest hit in the room for my kids was the awesome geometric patterned carpet! Alexandra, especially, kept walking back and forth trying to only put her feet on the black parts, or the white circles. There was also a small round room attached at one end that had a very cool echo in it. It was very subtle, but if you stood right in the middle and spoke normally, it was like your voice was being magnified by a microphone. Way fun!
All throughout our visit, we kept running into the same mother and little boy combo. I am not sure exactly why she was there, unless they were accompanying someone else who wasn't ready to leave yet. But seriously, that little boy did NOT want to be there. He kept running around, complaining loudly, and one point I think he was making a break for the exit. But no, the mom insisted on trying to visit other parts of the museum. She couldn't even enjoy any of the artwork, she barely had time to glance at it, before she would have to shush the kid, or grab him before he took off again. Or scrape him up off the floor, mid-tantrum. When I see those kind of situations, I generally side with the kid. They are obviously tired, bored, hungry, or all three. Forcing them to continue under those circumstances just isn't fair.
Anyway, as we were heading downstairs at one point, we passed them again. At this time, I was holding Alexandra's hand and we were just walking along together. The mother pointed to Alexandra and said to her little boy, "See, look at that little girl. She's younger than you and look how nice and quiet she is, just walking along holding her mommy's hand." Yeah, you know it! ha. Seriously, I just got lucky with my kids, and they have had their share of tantrums, but they usually choose to let loose at home, not in public. I hope she was able to end up having a nice visit after all.
We eventually had our fill of art, and called it a day. What a gorgeous museum, and we will definitely head back there again with more visitors.