Overtaken by a snooze

The plan was that I meet Jo after lunch to go to the Barnes Foundation that has an outstanding collection of Impressionist paintings. So when I went through the Phidelphia Museum of Art this morning I skipped through the Impressionist rooms and spent my time upstairs (almost the only person there) in the reconstructed European interiors. Not so much reconstructed as bought as job lots from English country houses, demolished and rebuilt in the US to end up in a museum. There was an Adam’s drawing room that was never finished in London, but shifted to Philly. I saw these on my way to the one room dedicated to textiles.

Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Downstairs I enjoyed the Duchamp room (to my surprise) and the Brancussi room. And I watched an arty video by a young thing who won a prize for her Will o the Whisp. All that practice on U-Tube works.

When I got back to the hotel (and ate ravioli leftovers for lunch), Jo arrived and we both lay down for a minute that stretched into 4hours. Catching up on sleep is more important than looking at old paintings. 

The award presentation dinner tonight was not as well attended as usual (maybe because Jo paid $130 for me to attend). The prize recipient waffled on about her achievements but caught my attention when she said that her career changed direction when Trump got elected so that she moved from Yale to Vassar where she felt that she could do some good despite him. Good luck with that!