Neue Galerie is one of the greatest museums on Museum Mile in the Upper East Side, proudly dedicated to German and Austrian art.
Currently, the museum is exhibiting Munch and other great Expressionists’ masterpieces. I always wanted to visit this interesting place, and a chance to see Munch’s great collection again was convincing enough to take a walk to Museum Mile this Sunday morning.
[http://www.neuegalerie.org/content/munch-and-expressionism-0]
(The exhibition didn’t allow photography.)
I remember briefly that “The Scream” had been stolen, damaged, or there are multiple pieces of “The Scream”, but also a lot of forgeries, as I learnt from the Munch exhibition in Ueno, Tokyo, in 2007. My husband has seen “The Scream” at MoMA in 2012, but I wonder if it was the same one, so I looked up.
https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1305?locale=en]
Apparently, there are at least four versions of “The Scream” existing in the world, and the one that was stolen and damaged has been restored and back on exhibition at Olso Museum. The one that we saw today, and the one shown at MoMA in 2012 are supposedly the same piece, a pastel-on-board form created in 1895. It’s from private collection.
The piece had striking visual and colors, and not only the “scream” face but the background was telling a lot of stories, however, perhaps because of the pastel, it looked somehow weak. The one in Oslo must be the most impressive one, which I added to my list of “Art to See before I Die.”
My husband and I agreed that we are not crazy about Expressionism, but the overall exhibition was great, and the focus was very clear. I wish there was more information for each work and history of the time, and stories behind it.
And then, Cafe Sabarsky.
It’s an Austrian cafe with a nice view of Central Park. It’s all relaxed and not really polished, but comfortable, and you can feel that people are all enjoying it.
It was really European, and also very Upper East Side.
The weather was still cold, but it was such a beautiful Sunday to enjoy art and a museum cafe uptown.
[http://www.neuegalerie.org/cafes/sabarsky]
