tim’s thought property

Remember in elementary school, when there were field trips?
You would get a permission slip for your parents to sign, pack a lunch, board a school bus and go to a museum or Provincial Park or the symphony? Remember how classes were on hold until the next day?
I guess I had that in mind initially when I signed up for the First Year Field Trip. It is a requirement to graduate the School of Art. (A field trip that matters?) We were expected to visit two galleries in Minneapolis, and sketch six works of art (three pairs), and write a comparison for them. (Homework, on a field trip?) The trip was three days, (multiple days?) and we took two charter buses down to the Twin Cities. (Border crossing, for school? Get out.)
Well, that’s the set up.

So, after settling in on the first night, going for dinner and all, we were to meet in the lobby the next morning.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (henceforth referred to as the M.I.A.) is the city’s gallery of rare and early artworks. It is three storeys of Ancient Art, from Egypt, Greece, China, Japan; Early works from the Americas; Textiles from various cultures; Modern Art and Pop Art; early photographs; Renaissance art European; Impressionism and Baroque.

As I mentioned we were to observe the art, in it’s setting, and find six pieces to sketch and write about. So, what does that really mean? Well, as I strolled the second floor, I had in hand my sketchbook, pencils and map. I wanted to find the Van Gogh, so I found my way to the third floor.
I turned around in one wing, and I saw this.
Manet’s painting The Smoker. I’d never seen a masterpiece in real life before, let alone a painting by any of those giants of genre. I was instantly sucked into this painting, from its rich tones and colours. It almost made you stop to look at it. It was strange. I never had the experience before. I went up close to the picture, staring hard at the strokes of the brush. I saw the detail of the cracks in the paint, after more than a century of life.
The man seemed to have all the time in the world, as he leisurely smoked a pipe that would never diminish. He held in his hand a blue handkerchief, he wore a furry hat. His beard was long and bushy; he looked like someone who must have been an elder or dignitary.
Stepping back, the strokes blended together subtly, and as I squinted my eyes produced a more life-like image. It was as if there was a secret to the technique that brought the image to life that Manet knew.
I must have spent close to forty minutes at this piece. I sat down to sketch it. Right off, I knew that I would spend a long time if I tried to reproduce it accurately. I wouldn’t do it justice in a half hour. But I didn’t care. Time seemed to slow down as I drew. There was something so compelling in this painting, I just had to stay.

I understand that you may not feel the same way I did.
I passed many other works without the same feelings. I would definitely visit an art museum again. It was simply too large and awe-inspiring to absorb in one visit.

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-painting The Smoker by Edouard Manet, 1866, oil on canvas; photo taken by myself