Thursday, August 25, 2011

A walk through the Sculpture Gardens

After touring the National Gallery of Art, I had the pleasure of taking a walk through it's Sculpture Gardens. Here are just a few of the fun and beautiful sights I enjoyed.
view of the fountains and pool from opposite side.
In the center of the garden sits this peaceful fountain and pool. From what I understand, during the winter it becomes an ice skating rink. In the background of the first photo is the National Gallery of Art which houses many fantastic works of art.
I had to wonder if those birds realized that they were perched on a sculpture of a tree and not the real thing. It was magnificently formed and if it had been a material other than highly polished aluminum I might have mistaken it for a real tree.
This little house sculpture was a lot of fun to photograph. It is not as it appears here, but rather as it appears in this next photo.
When viewing this from the front it appears to be a box shape but when viewed from other angles you can see that it is not. Wandering through the garden discussing each work of art with my niece I am sure I could only have been described as animated, until that is I came to this next sculpture.
Coming upon this scene I came to an abrupt halt, both in movement and voice. Riveted in one spot, I stood silent until my niece said that she didn't know what the sculpture was suppose to be but it was titled 'girls'. To me it was a very sobering sight and I told my niece I thought the artist was trying to portray the horror and sadness of the Holocaust. I was not far off, you can read the artist intent here. Now on to lighter works. This one brought a big smile to my face, especially when I discovered my niece had no idea what this object was. Almost made me feel like I was ancient.
 My niece told me that the Sculpture Gardens was a favorite spot for many DC residents to enjoy a bit of peace while they eat their lunch. There is even a small cafe' within the gardens. This next photo is of a portion of the cafe's outdoor seating area.
All in all I had a very lovely time in this peaceful garden.






3 comments:

Cildemer said...

Seems to be a very nice garden! Amazing sculpture of the little house!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful shots. And thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment;o)


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Pat said...

I LOVE sculpture gardens! This one is wonderful! I've actually seen the typewriter eraser one in the Seattle sculpture gardens! I love the capture of the birds in the "fake" tree!

Meri said...

I once worked across the street from the Mall and loved wandering the sculpture garden (as well as the many museums, which are now even more numerous than when I lived in the area). And the Seattle Art Museum's sculpture park is fabulous and filled with people just enjoying the art and the view, walking, sitting, doing tai chi or yoga classes.