Jul 18, 20222 min read

Hot Day in Avignon

On Friday just about the whole class went on an "Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO)" to Avignon which is really just a fancy word for field trip...including a charter bus, seeing churches and museums, and finding delicious snacks.

First stop was the Palais des Papes, which is a beautiful Gothic structure that dates back to the 14th century when it was home to multiple Popes. There are some lovely painted rooms (which can't be photographed) but also a lot of huge spaces that are reimagined through a digital app on tablets that are issued to all visitors. Even though the rooms looked like plain block walls, the app provided a digital illustration of what they would have looked like and a narration of how each was used. My favorite display included ceramic tiles with different decorative elements.

Next on the list for me was the Collection Lambert, from a bit of a different era. Yves Lambert's collection is focused on work that has been developed since the 1960's so it was an interesting change from the stone walls of medieval Catholicism. The two visiting exhibits that I enjoyed the most were the light spaces of Dan Flavin and the unique objects and spaces of Ann Veronica Janssens.

Throw in some work by Sol LeWitt and other contemporary artists and it's a thought-provoking and inspiring afternoon. Almost more importantly, the museum was air conditioned and had good bathrooms! ha!

There was some good street art, too...which I could barely see with sweat dripping in my eyes, but I did my best:

Last but not least, we visited the Musee Angladon and saw a few masterpieces. There was a Matisse exhibit on the third floor featuring a variety of his drawings. I once again found my soul mate in his sketch of a napping woman. She looks so cool and peaceful. The woman in the red shirt by Modigliani made me laugh because that's the expression on my face by the late afternoon of our visit. And that cat sculpture's teeth were just too much. I realize it's a precious Chinese sculpture from the 15th century, but the grin is still one of the craziest things I saw all day.