Museums love 'em or leave 'em..

love them, hate them!
Love them because they give me a chance to view art which I (even if I really, really desire to) could NEVER own.
I hate them because some art, especially sculpture seems to cry out:"Touch me"!
As did this a bronze called "Centre" (I call it The Golden Egg, LOL) by Romanian Constantin Brancusi! (1876-1957)
Another by Brancusi,this appears to be just in clay. "A Muse"! The same/similar piece in bronze and clay is right here in Houston at the MFAH, and it is a beautiful piece, so smooth and curvy and shiny, just asking to run hands over it. Oh yes!

Being a bit nearsighted, some small pieces beckon to me to come closer to see details, like this smallapprox.14X10 inches painting by Gerrit Dou, Dutch,(1613-1675) called "Dentist by Candlelight" and to be viewed at the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth.

Not only is it small and rather dark, but painted with a great sense of the dramatic effect of light thrown by the candle. The lantern with candle is positioned in the lower right but its rays reach just far enough to illuminate the faces and the dentist's hand, the instrument of torture (;-). What is barely visible is the crocodile hanging just above the heads (according to MY modern dentist- this was a symbol for his profession in days of yore-possibly because of all those teeth in the crocs jaw ;-) who really knows! Maybe it was just the painter's wry sense of humor mocking the pain, funny to the beholder of today...except, of course for dentists, who'd rather forget about the olden days of no ether, no painkillers, no high speed drills... ;-).

That's why I hate them, needing to be close..is asking for the guards to sternly remand me - do not touch, step away, breathing on it may damage it, or whatever.

Ah, I do love those outdoor sculpture gardens..nobody to tell me "Don't touch" I mean after all those pieces get rained on, wind blows stuff at them, sun bakes them...so a little human touch cannot be that damaging or so I think.. here is one I like, even tough TOOO big to caress...but touch it. or rather her, as it is "Woman addressing the Public" by Joan Miro,(Spanish 1893-1983) I did!!

What was Miro thinking when he sculpted this 'monster' piece?

Perhaps: That Woman with hawkish nose is a Harpy? Does the lighter colored empty upper body cavity represent sentiment? being big hearted? Her sturdy legs planted securely in this world of politics..woman as realist (ahem, just my thinking...;-)!

The circle in one of her legs..does it mean she has become a target or does it mean a weakness? It is a piece that causes, or should cause questions. What do you think or feel when you see 'art'?