MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MOMA), NYC

I don’t spend enough time in museums to be honest. Whenever I go away on a city break, I’ll always try and stop into any particularly famous or notable galleries or museums, but I need to make more of an effort to explore London’s offerings as it really is a wonderful and relaxing way to spend a few hours of the day.

On this recent New York trip with my hubby, despite usually favouring the Guggenheim or the Met for an art and culture fix, this time it was MoMA’s turn. Although I was repeatedly told by Dan that he was ‘really not a modern art fan’, even he was won over by this brilliant art museum.

A simply stunningly curated collection of almost 200,000 works spanning the last 150 years, MoMA’s constantly evolving collection features a vast range of visual expression including paintings, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, design, architecture, photography, film and media and performance art. If you’re not making it over to New York any time soon, then sit back now, grab a cuppa and imagine you’re in the Big Apple taking a stroll through the museum with a tour of some of my picks of the artwork on display.

We wondered around for a lovely and relaxing couple of hours seeking out works we’d had on our list to see by a range of artists from Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Max Ernst, Dan Flavin, Picasso, Claude Monet and many, many, many more.

^^ The infamous ONE by Jackson Pollock – incredible in the flesh and bigger than you’d expect ^^

^^ I was particularly struck by this installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres – representing the fragility of life, Felix created this using lightbulbs to represent that the life span of each bulb, like that of a person, is of a particular duration and will eventually burn out ^^

^^The Museum of Modern Art currently has an incredible exhibition on of Picasso’s sculptures – it’s a huge display taking over an entire floor so head quick as it’s only on until mid-February ^^

I was most excited about seeing some of the French impressionist work in the flesh. First up was Van Gogh’s work ‘Starry Night’. This painting was particularly special to Dan and I as while in Provence for our wedding, we made St Remy our home for two weeks. Here, we actually stayed mere minutes away from the asylum where Van Gogh painted this exact piece and it was mesmerising to see it in the flesh.

And last, but certainly not least, was a visit to Monet’s Water Lilies. During his many years at his house in Giverny, northwest of Paris, Monet painted more than 40 large-scale panel paintings of his lily ponds and gardens. I just love the colours in this section particularly and can’t wait to actually visit the gardens one day.

Have you got any favourite paintings / pieces of art in galleries around the world? I’d love to hear from you.

LMNH x