I Am From New York, And You Know Why I Am Here

I stepped up to the Reception Desk and said: "I am from New York, and you know why I am here."

They knew exactly why I was there.  The receptionist pointed, and said: "Go through that door and it will be on the right."

I was at the Crystal Bridges Museum Of American Art in the town of Bentonville (population 38,000) in northwestern Arkansas.  I was drawn there because Crystal Bridges is now the home of Kindred Spirits. This 1849 painting, considered to be Asher Durand's masterpiece, is in the style of the Hudson River School. 

The painting depicts Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant standing on a rocky ledge in the Catskills.  It appeared in one of my junior high school textbooks, basically as an icon for New York State.  

Kindred Spirits once hung on the walls of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, until the Library received an envelope with $35,000,000 of Wal-Mart money.  The painting now hangs on the walls in an art museum in a ravine in Arkansas.

Calling Crystal Bridges an art museum is an understatement.

I started my trip through the museum at Twentieth Century Art:

Then I noticed the architecture:

Then I started to look out the windows, and noticed how the museum pays homage to the nature around it:

I noticed a sculpture that caught the light:

I saw how the windows multiply an image:

Light was coming in from the sides and coming down from above me:

There were vistas:

There were shadows:

As the sun moved across the sky, the buildings took on different looks:

Even the interior doors were capturing light:

And there was water:

My mind was filling up; this place was so much more than art and sculpture.  Crystal Bridges was a convergence of many things.

I made it to the Nineteenth Century gallery.  I found Kindred Spirits.  I saluted the painting: “You may not be in New York State any more, but you are in a very fine place, indeed.”

- . - .- . - . - . 

A 3-minute video about the museum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEe-x0i3KjY

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com