Finding time to start visiting art museums again

Introduction

No matter how much you love something, if you stop doing it for a while, it will fade from your consciousness and you won't be able to keep it up. Even if you could do it effortlessly and almost unconsciously once you were used to it, once you stop, it doesn't even appear in the back of your mind. I have started visiting art museums again for the first time in decades. I wonder if I will keep it up this time.

Today is a story about that.

Started visiting

Last year. In the middle of the heat, I headed to an art museum in Shizuoka while trying to minimize the time I spent outdoors. Last year, I went to Tokyo for some business. I chose from art museums I hadn't been able to visit before, or newly established ones. As a result, I went to the Chihiro Art Museum in Shimo-Shakujii, Nerima.

Even when I head to the city center, I don't feel like going to tourist spots. I try to go to places with fewer people. That is quite difficult, but when you head west by train, that is not the case. It is not much different from the local town where I usually live. A moderate density of people is comfortable for me.

In addition, the time I can spend standing near paintings I like is a blissful moment. Usually, I am by myself, but occasionally I invite one person. This time was no exception.

Alone

Usually, when I travel, I list the art museums I want to visit. If there is a special exhibition featuring a painter or theme I am interested in, I prioritize that. The Chihiro Art Museum was the latter, and I had wanted to visit it sooner.

Two months ago, the Shizuoka City Museum of Art was chosen based on the exhibition. It was because a Paul Klee exhibition was being held. I wrote an article about the entire trip.

Traveling around Europe to see his paintings is a daunting task. In contrast, paintings gather from all over the world to an art museum right in front of Shizuoka Station. There is almost no other opportunity to easily stop by and see the paintings of a painter I have wanted to see for many years just by traveling domestically.

Locally

And this month. I revisited one of the local art museums for the first time in 30 years. It had been expanded and was quite large. My impression from my previous visit was faint. Meeting them again like this brings back the fresh impression of the first time and serves as a trigger to recall those days. It is like listening to music I haven't heard in a long time. The person who showed me around the museum was the same person as before. I told them that it was shortly after the museum opened back then.

By tracing the works one by one in this way, I can gradually learn about the painter's way of life. I was attracted to the figure of a certain artist who has maintained a freshness even after reaching my age.

There are various things that can be gleaned from paintings and music. Of course, as the viewer, what I feel from the paintings changes from time to time. Even when I reunite with the same paintings as before, the ones I stop at are different, and my impressions are different. Every time I face a painting, I end up looking at myself.

Will it become a habit?

I have painted pictures many times. During that time, I had almost no opportunity to appreciate paintings in places other than where I was exhibiting my own work for the past 20 years. However, since last year, I have started to find time to visit art museums again.

I think my way of perceiving paintings has changed and I have become freer. I go to see paintings after learning as much as I can about each painter's way of life. Abstract paintings are interesting, and I have even become interested in the changes in colors and color planes, and even subtle gradations. Is it a reaction to only painting figurative paintings? On the other hand, classical expressions from the Middle Ages are also good, and there is something that comes through in the simple paintings of children.

Conclusion

Paintings, like music, have great depth. Once you get hooked, there is truly an endless expanse to explore. There are people in my local area who engage in such activities, and their works are also on display. Now that I find myself drawn to these places, I feel I can understand the world from this perspective.

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