I was just in New York a couple weekends ago, but now I want to go back, to see Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-17 at the Museum of Modern Art.
This glowing New York Times review makes a return trip tempting, but what I liked most about it was the description of how Matisse “refueled with travel” at a point when he was beaten down by competition with Picasso. From 1910 to 1914, looking for inspiration, Matisse visited Germany, Russia, Spain and Morocco, touring museums and studying architecture. It worked. He returned to the canvas reinvigorated, churning out new masterpieces, including The Moroccans (above).
I see museums as a different sort of inspiration. They’re an intrinsic part of travel for me, and the ones I love most distill the mood or aesthetic of a city in a way I can’t grasp walking the streets. It’s about more than art. It can be in the light, the design, or how the viewing public behaves. Something about the culture is captured.
When I think about museums that do this successfully, a few surface immediately–those that I indelibly associate with their home cities and taught me something new besides. From my own travels, and excluding my hometown, my top five are:
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
National Palace Museum, Taipei
The Belvedere, Vienna
Tate Modern, London
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen
One caveat: I’ve never been to Italy, and I’m certain a trip there would reshuffle the deck.
