Bosch, Bruegel and Byzantininess

Miguel Ximenez

Tower of Babel

Never thought I’d dig any sort of religious art -- just not my bag. After seeing an entire museum’s worth of Byzantine work while in Vienna (natürlich I can’t remember the name of the joint and Google’s not helping me today) I was def turned on. Dunno what it was -- the angular primitiveness? the resemblance to Mexican folk art? the gold leaf maybe?

In any case, The Yale Art Gallery has a few pieces that were similarly awe inspiring.

I was utterly blown to bits, by Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) the Elder when I first saw Tower of Babel live, in the flesh, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. I knew there were mother Brueghels, sons and grandsons who also wielded a hot, nasty paint brush but I’d never seen any of it.

And then we rounded the corner at The Yale Art Gallery. There it was -- (at left)  The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Pieter’s boy. The demons off to the side just totally slay me. Though he was painting nearly 100 years after Miguel Ximenez, it looks like they might have been buds or at least had similar nightmares.

Close by was An Allegory of Intemperance by Hieronymus Bosch. Incredibly, I’ve never seen even one of his pieces before. MUST see more!

Also too -- I’ll have some of what these fellas were tokin’ please.

Since Gallery Exhaustion was settling in we decided to take a snack break. Across the street from the museum is the Atticus Bookstore Cafe. Wow. Fab food (Jen and I split the Grilled Mushroom & Stilton Cheese sandwich -- mega yum!), great atmosphere, cool art and photos on the walls and BOOKS. Naturally, I didn’t get out the door without a small bag of ‘em Including Tim Kreider's book of essays and cartoons, We Learn Nothing. I totally recommend it. Totally.

Yet one more ultra cool thing about The Yale Art Gallery -- it’s free. Very different from the big

museums I’m used to. From The Art Newspaper:

The debate over museum entry fees was reignited following the news that both the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York—already the country’s most expensive museums to visit—were both raising their general entry fees, from $20 to $22 at the MFA and $25 at MoMA. Earlier this year, the Metro­politan Museum of Art announced a hike in its suggested admission, also from $20 to $25.

Read the whole article -- it’s fascinating.

Entrance to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard  is currently $5 while the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger museums are closed for renovation. Normally entrance for all three Harvard museums is $9.

I’ve been to all three plus the, dusty yet cool, Glass Flowers Gallery in the Natural History Museum (entrance fee $12). I’m partial to the Busch-Reisinger.

In my considerable, peasant-y opinion, Yale’s collection is best. Def worth the trip.