Museum Scavenger Hunt

eye spy with my little eye...

I went to The Met in October. Sometimes walking through museums of that scale can be overwhelming. You’re trying to read all the wall text, because you’re an intellectual, but after having been there for an hour you’re just standing in front of these paragraphs absorbing nothing. Or, you go through the museum only looking for what’s highlighted in the brochure they hand to you missing some of the more unique things that could end up being your favorite.

A year before this, I was in Vienna with my mom and every single day we went to at least one museum, some days more than that. Everything was extraordinary, but at a certain point I felt like everything was just rushing past me. I stopped standing in front of the paintings, instead just walking through the rooms glancing at each wall before going to the next and then the next. I had definitely stopped reading any of the wall text.

We walked into this room of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (I still am unsure how you say that) where there were some of the largest pieces of art I had ever seen in my life. One of them called Large Fish Market. It was all engrossing at 8 feet by 12 feet and set just above eye level making it feel even bigger. So big that it was impossible to absorb as one whole thing, I was forced to interpret it in smaller pieces. From that point forward I went through looking at these works closely trying to find things that wouldn’t necessarily jump out at you when looking at the whole piece. In Large Fish Market it was a plate of oysters.

Oysters are typically a symbol of fertility (#9) or a representation of their aphrodisiac powers (#7, #5, #1) or a status of wealth (#8). Or they’re just pretty (#2, #4, #3). I’ve gathered some photos from different museum collections that all include oysters.

1. Jacob Ochtervelt, Oyster Eaters, c.1665-1669 2. Henri Matisse, Still Life with Oysters, 1940 3. Joachim von Sandrart, Large Fish Market, 1654 4. Henri Matisse, Tulips and Oysters on a black background, 1943 5. Young Woman Eating Oysters, Jan Steen, (1658-60) 6. Jacques Callot, Oyster with Pearl, 1592 7. Jacob Ochtervelt, The Oyster Meal, 1664 8. Jean-François de Troy, The Oyster Lunch, 1735 9. Sandro Boticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1485

Walking through a large museum, especially one you might only get to go to once in your life is so exciting. At the end of a museum trip your camera roll is full of photos of pretty or famous paintings which is perfectly fine, but maybe now you can look back and think about how a similar attribute of one painting changes its meaning in another.

Other things you can be on the look out for in museums:

• Specific colors

• Bows

• Moustaches

• Jewelry

• Hands

alright, let’s f*cking gab

#1 The decorated Christmas tree! — the bow trend really got us this year, but it looks so damn cute, every time I pass it I stop and stare.

#2 288 pages of A Secret History — I hate to abandon a book even if I’m not enjoying it because I’d like to at least be certain its not for me, but man this one is rough.

#3 This cat sleeping on a pile of cardboard boxes in an Italian goods store on Arthur Avenue.

#4 I’ve been watching The Voice with my mom and have developed a love, like one you would have towards a cute child, for John Legend.

#5 Glossier X Starface — Guysssssss this is so good! The glossier fans are literally never satisfied though, everyone in the comments is sad they didn’t bring back the actual sticker sheets, you really can’t please everyone.

glossier

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Thanks for reading! If you’re in DC, go to one of the many free museums you have at your disposal sometime this week, I miss them (and you) dearly.

Xx,

Gabbie