"...Instead, I was a painter, and I became Picasso"

‎"My mother said to me, "If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope." Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso." Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

What a great quote; I want to become a Picasso. Picasso is estimated to have created 13,500 paintings including designs. His engravings number 100,000 and he produced 34,000 book illustrations. His creations in sculpture and ceramics are 300.

I love art and recently had the opportunity to go on a field trip to the Seattle Art Museum with my #1 daughter's college painting class to see the Picasso exhibit.
 
 We had such a good time. We stopped first at the Asian Art Museum. I have to admit that my favorite part of this exhibit was outside at the koi fish ponds.

I had no idea how neat koi fish really are. As we stood by the edge of the pond admiring the architecture and the beautiful fall foliage the fish apparently saw us and gathered in front of where we stood. Even though I know that logically speaking they were waiting for food, it seemed that they were saying hello. Their sheer size of nearly two feet long was enough to impress us, not to mention their color. I never put much thought into the fact that the fish can see us standing above the water. What do they think, if anything? A fun question to ponder....

 We got back on the bus and headed to the Seattle Art Museum or SAM for short. I had never been and was excited to get to spend five hours there. We toured through the crowded Picasso exhibit, taking our time and admiring his great works. I rather liked his early works better than his later works. It seems the older he got, the stranger his paintings were. We were not allowed to photograph any part of the exhibit but here is a link to my favorite from the SAM website.

Two women running on the beach (The Race), summer 1922

http://www.picassoinseattle.org/art.html#7

I also learned that Picasso gave away quite a few of his works to friends and to his mistress but he never signed any work unless it was to be sold. Maybe it was his way of preventing his friends from the temptation of what he viewed as a personal betrayal.

My daughter and I meandered through the exhibits one by one, enjoying the art and each other's company.

Here are some:

This painting in the Renaissance Room had really nice color but I was really interested in the frame as much as the canvas. Framing is an art in and of itself and there was a lot of detail put into many of the frames of the works that we saw. I found myself studying the frames almost more than the art.

 This piece appeared to be made entirely from dog tags. It was even more impressive up close but the aerial view gives a better impression of the sheer size of it.

 Daughter and I both really liked this piece. Who hasn't felt like there is big black rat sitting on their chest at one time or another in their lives? The subject appears to be in a peaceful sleep. Appearances can be deceiving.

 This is the Porcelain Room. The size and volume are impressive and it was enjoyable to go through, though we did so rather quickly. It was pretty but not my cup of tea really.

 This is a close up of one of the pieces in The Porcelain Room.

 This room in the contemporary art area was both of our favorites. I really wanted to share the name of the artist but I seem to have misplaced the card I brought home about them. When I find it I will have to edit it in. These pieces oozed both simplicity and complexity. It is hard to tell from the first picture but each piece had a three dimensional element to it.
* I found it! Cris Brodahl.

Here is a link to some more of her works.

 We finished up at SAM as it was starting to get dark outside. We decided to start walking back to the convention center where we were to meet up with the rest of the class. We were an hour and a half early but we were tired and didn't really want to walk back in the dark on the streets of downtown Seattle. We found a quiet place with some comfortable chairs and a big window overlooking the street. As we rested we did some people watching, which is always fun. The light coming up from the street through the rain was creating some nice light so I snapped these pictures of my #1. It was a great day.