A Day at the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston

The main reason for this trip to the Museum of Fine Arts was the Luis Melendez exhibit. The above painting is Still Life with Watermelons and Apples. Luis Melendez is regarded as the leading Spanish still life painter of the 18th century. Despite his talent, Luis Meléndez lived in poverty for most of his life and died indigent.


Melendez was a master of highlights and shadows, his use of subtle texture give the fruit, vegetables, breads, sweets, fowl, meat and other kitchen items their realistic quality.

Below is a self-portrait, why he painted himself holding a drawing of a naked man, who knows? Maybe it's a self-portrait within a self-portrait.

The exhibit includes more than twenty still-lifes, many from the Prado in Madrid, several from private collections. Two of the paintings are from the personal collection of Theresa Hines (Mrs. John Kerry). Can you imagine gazing at a pair of Menedez' while you're having dinner, money can buy happiness, at least when it comes to art. Definitely worth seeing. The exhibit is showing through May 9, 2010

Other exhibits included Toulouse-Lautrec's Cafe and Cabaret painting and sketches, and Secrets of Tomb 10A. Neither of these really interested me. Egyptians apparently were the original hoarders. This tomb belonging to King and Queen Djehutynakhts was found in 1915 by a team of archeologists from Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Egyptian government let the archeologists keep all that they found. Unfortunately the tomb had been picked clean of the "good" stuff by marauders but if you like rows and rows of 4000 year old wooden boats you might like this exhibit. The mummified head was kind of cool.

The Lion King

The Lion King

I have seen a lot of plays, here in Boston and in New York City. I have a lot of favorites and plays that I've seen more than once - Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Grease, Mama Mia. BUT I left The Lion King absolutely floored. It was unbelievably incredible!

The costumes looked odd and I didn't really understand the concept of the whole play. You could see the actors and the puppets and their masks. It looked bizarre in the commercials. And The Lion King was never one of my favorite Disney movies.

But it was getting great reviews, and winning Tony awards - Best Musical, Best Scenic Design for a Musical, Best Costume Design for a Musical, Best Lighting Design for a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical - so when I heard it was coming to Boston I had to see for myself. Tickets were not cheap but we had great seats, 6 rows from the stage on the aisle. This was absolutely the best time to have aisle seats, several times the characters come down the aisles singing and I had to restrain from touching the costumes.


Julie Taymor - a native of Newton, Massachusetts, directed, wrote the lyrics for the song Endless Night, designed the costumes, co-designed the masks, and co-designed the puppets. She is a genius! Vocally the actors sounded like the characters in the Disney movie but visually it was mesmerizing! There was so much to see and hear, so much to take in all at once. The whole play was enveloping. With only three dancers, a herd of gazelle would run by,

the actors who were giraffes walked on stilts with ungodly tall giraffe hats. And while the cheetah were "creative", they were a bit freakish.
The play left Boston yesterday but if you ever have a chance to see it, go.... you won't regret it!