Highlights: Cleveland Museum of Art

The first of a series of posts dedicating to highlighting some of my favorite museums and art-history locales around the globe. I've decided to start with my favorite museum in Ohio, which is where I will be taking classes this fall for my graduate studies in art history/museum studies at Case Western :)

Since my very first visit to the Cleveland museum as a child, I fell in love. It's a mystical place in many respects, but most notably, in my case as a young girl, because of it's grand hall of armor and Medieval weaponry. The ancient legends practically come alive in that place. But the museum has a million and one other amazing things to offer visitors, including world-class collections of all types of non-Western art and some of the world's most famous masterpieces of painting. They've also just finished an immense renovation, the results of which I have yet to see...but I hear that the new atrium is absolutely gorgeous. 

The museum is also one of the most active and engaging that I've come across in my home state of Ohio. They have special themed tours almost daily, concerts and multimedia events on the grounds every week, and a whole slew of other festivals, fun classes, and interactive activities, as well as multiple traveling exhibits at once (check out this page to see their current and upcoming exhibitions, which include Renaissance textiles and Van Gogh) They even hosted a Game of Thrones themed tour a few weeks ago! 

The CMA is home to many famous European masterpieces:

Salvador Dali, The Dream, 1931.

(click through to see more!)

Pablo Picasso, La Vie, 1903. One of the most famous Picasso paintings in history, and the primary example of his Blue Period!! It's so exciting to see this in person.

Nicholas Poussin, The Holy Family on the Steps, 1648. One of the most important paintings  for students studying composition and color placement in the history of art.

The museum also has some exemplary collections of certain types of art not commonly seen in the Midwest, including a wonderful room of early Medieval and Migration Art (which is one of my special interests), curated by the talented Stephen Fliegel. 

Plaque from a reliquary shrine, c. 1200-1250. Mosan, Valley of the Meuse, Gothic Period.

Transenna Post, c. 700s-800s. Lombardic, Italy, Rome. Migration period.

Other favorites of mine include the following.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn x 100, 1962.

Antonio Canova, Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry), 1816. Canova is my second favorite sculptor and this is one of my favorites of his.

Paul Cezanne, The Brook, 1895-1900.

The Cleveland Museum of Art's website, with info on visiting hours, admission costs, and exhibitions, can be found at http://www.clevelandart.com