More on "Golden" Exhibit at PEM

When I first returned to the Hawthorne Hotel after seeing the newest PEM exhibit "Golden:  Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk Van Otterloo Collection" I was feeling so energized, I had to tell you all right away how wonderful it was.  So I did, with an initial blog post, and promised to write more.

This is the more.

I thought maybe after I settled down, I would lose a little bit of my initial enthusiasm, but I most certainly did not.  However, I now almost feel like not sharing, because I don't want it to get too crowded over there.  I want to be able to go back again and again, and really pore over these masterful works, and soak them in and enjoy them all to myself.  Fair?  Not really, but that is how I feel.

I have already gone back once, with my husband, and now he is also very enthusiastic about the show.  As we left the museum, he commented yet again to me about how lucky we are to be living here in Salem, with this fabulous museum right in our back yard.

One of the terrific things about PEM is that you can get up close and personal with the exhibit's pieces.  This does not happen at every museum, but especially with this show -- it is exactly what you will want to do.  To facilitate that approach, PEM has graciously even provided magnifying glasses for you to use while you are there visiting.  Wow!  What a nice touch.  Such an appropriate detail for this exhibit especially.

I am including some more images for you in this blog post, but AGAIN, I can only say that images do not do any show real justice, and you need to come and see it for yourself.

Don't forget that the Hawthorne Hotel offers a PEM package at all times that we have space available.  It includes tickets to the museum, a gift certificate to spend in the gift shop, and your accmmodations here a the hotel.

The book of this show is wonderful, and since it is available both in hard cover and soft cover, the price is within reach to most everyone.  You could get our package and uset the gift certificate to pay for most of the book!  What a nice remembrance of a fabulous experience, and what a terrific learning tool as well.

I hope to see you here, whether to spend the night, or to have a bite to eat, or to enjoy an adult beverage.

 Old Woman Eating Porridge, c 1657 Gabriel Metsu (1629 - 1667) Oil on panel, 14 x 11 inches.  The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection, image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Orpheus Charming the Animals, c 1640, Aelbert Cuyp (1620 - 1691) Oil on Canvas, 44-1/2 x 65-3/4 inches.  The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection

(Notice that the artist painted this when he was but 20.  The guest curator mentioned that he might have done this piece to show off how talented he was -- that he could paint people and animals and landscape and trees and nearly everything -- all showcased in this one very large, for the time, painting.)

Portait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632.  Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Oil on panel.  29 x 22 inches.  The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection, image courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This piece is as amazing as you would expect from Rembrandt.  Again, you simply have to go and see it in person to really SEE it, and to understand what an fabulous artist he was.

Still smiling at the thought of all this fabulous art, so close to us,

Juli