Ringling: Pt.1
Today I went to the Ringling Museum. It was a bit on the expensive side but I hadn't been since I was in elementary school on a field trip and I remembered nothing about it but the banyan trees (because I'm mildly obsessed with banyan trees, what of it,) so I decided now was as good a time as any.
I went by myself and regret nothing. I needed a recharge day and it did wonders! It wasn't crowded at all and I got to really look at just about every painting in the museum. Hours and hours of circus history, a palatial estate restored to it's 1920's Gothic grandeur, a gallery of modern art (and seriously, fuck you plain blue canvas framed in aluminum,) and (MASSIVE) Rubens and El Greco and Velasquez, Oh my! I love standing 6 inches away from something made 500 years ago and really studying it, then stepping back and looking again. It's overwhelming and wonderful and feels like a connection to the past. Imagine 500 years from now someone getting an emotional reaction from something you created! Amazing. I especially loved this one and this one by Carlo Dolci. They are both on the small side and seemingly simple but photos will never do them justice. From 3 inches away they are hauntingly beautiful. And THIS done with tempera (eggs) on wood in the 1300's. Again that picture is crap and it's gorgeous in person. I'm no art scholar, but I don't think you have to be to get something from a masterpiece.
I suppose that's what today was about; finding beauty and a sense of peace.
So I wandered around all afternoon and looked and meandered and ate lunch under a centuries old oak tree within sight of the Gulf and took loads of crappy pics that don't come close to doing the place justice.
CIRCUS CIRCUS!
This being the RINGLING museum (of Ringling Bros and Barnum circus fame) there's a substantial connection to the circus. Two buildings house the circus collections of costumes and actual train cars and carriages! And miniatures! And loads of interesting things.
Posters
Miniature INSANELY detailed circus from above
Inside the Big Top
Miniature Menagerie
Miniature Sideshow
I just thought this was cool
And this (ignore me and that weird gang sign thing my hand is doing)
Lady working on a miniature
Humbug
FIERCE
A circus wagon. The band would have been on top.
Detail
Hanger of circus vehicles, including human rocket launcher
I LOVE the sideshow. These paintings were HUGE.
Detail on my favorites
Circus wagon wheels
I love Banyan trees.
Rose Garden
Statue leading to the rose garden
THE COOLEST LOOKING ROSE I'VE EVER SEEEEEN
Other roses
View from the center of the rose garden
It's a bit long, so we'll call this Part One. Inside the mansion and more of the grounds in Part Two. :)
I went by myself and regret nothing. I needed a recharge day and it did wonders! It wasn't crowded at all and I got to really look at just about every painting in the museum. Hours and hours of circus history, a palatial estate restored to it's 1920's Gothic grandeur, a gallery of modern art (and seriously, fuck you plain blue canvas framed in aluminum,) and (MASSIVE) Rubens and El Greco and Velasquez, Oh my! I love standing 6 inches away from something made 500 years ago and really studying it, then stepping back and looking again. It's overwhelming and wonderful and feels like a connection to the past. Imagine 500 years from now someone getting an emotional reaction from something you created! Amazing. I especially loved this one and this one by Carlo Dolci. They are both on the small side and seemingly simple but photos will never do them justice. From 3 inches away they are hauntingly beautiful. And THIS done with tempera (eggs) on wood in the 1300's. Again that picture is crap and it's gorgeous in person. I'm no art scholar, but I don't think you have to be to get something from a masterpiece.
I suppose that's what today was about; finding beauty and a sense of peace.
So I wandered around all afternoon and looked and meandered and ate lunch under a centuries old oak tree within sight of the Gulf and took loads of crappy pics that don't come close to doing the place justice.
CIRCUS CIRCUS!
This being the RINGLING museum (of Ringling Bros and Barnum circus fame) there's a substantial connection to the circus. Two buildings house the circus collections of costumes and actual train cars and carriages! And miniatures! And loads of interesting things.
Posters
Miniature INSANELY detailed circus from above
Inside the Big Top
Miniature Menagerie
Miniature Sideshow
I just thought this was cool
And this (ignore me and that weird gang sign thing my hand is doing)
Lady working on a miniature
Humbug
FIERCE
A circus wagon. The band would have been on top.
Detail
Hanger of circus vehicles, including human rocket launcher
I LOVE the sideshow. These paintings were HUGE.
Detail on my favorites
Circus wagon wheels
I love Banyan trees.
Rose Garden
Statue leading to the rose garden
THE COOLEST LOOKING ROSE I'VE EVER SEEEEEN
Other roses
View from the center of the rose garden
It's a bit long, so we'll call this Part One. Inside the mansion and more of the grounds in Part Two. :)