I’m a little behind on sharing, but last Wednesday, the day after I got back from Miami, I headed out to the Cleveland Museum of Art with the Ohio Blogging Association to see the latest exhibition: The Last Days of Pompeii.
I had RSVP’d for this limited availability event and signed Justin up as well. My schedule felt tight after returning from vacation and I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to make it. But everything ended up working out and Justin and I made our way to the east side for some culture.
I have never been to our museum before. Shame on me because it is absolutely amazing. The atrium area is bright and full of natural light through its high glass ceiling. I immediately wondered why I had never been here before. We made our way to Provenance Cafe for a quick bite with my fellow bloggers since Justin and I were a little late.
Justin and I split some Szechwan noodles and a plate of baked macaroni and cheese. There were so many choices at this cafeteria style cafe and the food was surprisingly delicious. I opted for a cup of coffee in a light spanish blend. They had 3 or 4 different brews of coffee from all over. But you could also get glasses of wine and mini bottles of champagne. Cute as hell.
(source)
After dinner we got our guided tour of the exhibit. Our guide, Lucy, selected several pieces to really get in to and shared a wealth of knowledge on the era, the exhibit, and the art. This was the first exhibit that Lucy had ever researched and owned on her own and I could tell she was a bit nervous. But her passion for the exhibit and each piece was apparent.
I love a good guided tour and I enjoyed hearing about all the secrets behind the pieces our guide chose. But sometimes I like to just look, and read, and interoperate the art myself. Must be the art student in me.
The exhibit is broken up into three parts. First is the Pompeii era of Decadence. It hosted classic, modern, and contemporary interpretations of Pompeii. My favorite pieces were interpretations of the “cupid seller.” A metaphor for the notion of capturing or purchasing love. Buying love was the ultimate decadence in that time.
(source)
The second part of the exhibit hosted pieces that represented the Apocalypse, or the explosion of Mount Vesuvius. Here the museum was able to obtain a sculpture that had not been on public display since the 70s. The “Seated Nude, Pompeii” by an artist named Cesar (1954) is a welded iron sculpture from a private collection and has not been on view since 1972. It was my favorite sculpture in the collection.
(source)
In the exhibits final section, the Resurrection, the museum was able to display all of Mark Rothko’s unfinished commissioned murals in one place for the first time. Rothko was asked to create murals to be displayed at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City. While creating the restaurants interior he visited Pompeii and the murals turned more dark. He decided then that the dining experience of the Four Seasons was far to pretentious and inappropriate for the display of his work and he refused to finish.
Rothko committed suicide in 1970 and the paintings were never completed. Here at the Cleveland Museum of Art is the first time these unfinished paintings have ever been displayed together. Probably my favorite story of the night.
I will be going back to the museum very soon to check out the rest of the exhibits. Even just being in the building was truly amazing. “The Last Days of Pompeii” runs through Sunday, July 7. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for students and seniors, and $7 for children.
Bloggers in attendance include:
Poise in Parma (and Aunt Kathy)
ROJ Running (and guest Jason)
SOS Associates (and wife Julie)
WhyCLE (and husband Matthew)