Walk Slowly and Bow Often: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

Who knew that the National Park Service kept a campground eleven miles outside of Washington DC for regular people on a budget, like me? Thank you NPS!

Except for a night sky lit up by the City and white noise from distant freeways the camp was a sanctuary for nature and campers in the town of Greenbelt.

We drove to the nearby Metro stop and descended into the tunnels.

And emerged on the Mall at the Smithsonian.

The beautiful original Smithsonian has tables & chairs inside to rest & have lunch as well as bounteous information from helpful Volunteers.

Nearby is the majestic Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art and Sculpture Garden.

This is the downstairs with an installation of huge words.

I wish someone had given me this advice when I was thirteen!
Another one says - You want it, you buy it, you forget it. (True!)

Fish by Alexander Calder, American, b. Lawton, Pennsylvania, 1898-1976, made of metal, wire, plastic, ceramic, and paint in 1944. It hangs from invisible strings and is about 4 feet long.

This makes me think about fish as another part of our physical universe just like the other media that make it up.

It is wonderful that photography is permitted in the Museum!

Flower Overcoat by Yayoi Kusama, Japanese, b. Matsumoto City, 1929, made of cloth, plastic, metallic paint, and wood hangar in 1964.

I plan to have my brain challenged when looking at Modern Art.
Ideas are often the essence of the work. What idea do you think this Artist had in mind when creating this? I'm still thinking about it.

Venus of the Rags by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian, b. Biella, 1933, made of plaster and cloth in 1967.

Venus embodies the ideal of feminine beauty in Western Civilization and here she is with a closetful of clothes rejected, and nothing to wear that will make her feel beautiful.

Untitled by Dan Steinhilber, American, b. Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1972, made of Paper-clad wire hangars in 2002.

This soaring three-dimensional sculpture reminds me of birds in flight; or maybe a soul taking flight echoing itself through movement.

Evocation of a Form: Human, Lunar, Spectral by Jean Arp, French, b. Strasbourg, 1887-1966, enlarged and cast Bronze, 1957

I like the polished, smooth color and reflected light; how being outside changes the look. Are these body shapes, organic shapes? What makes it seem human?
Mysterious and beautiful.