Writing about Art — Josh Aiman

A major exhibition on Monet at the Denver Art Museum ends on February 2, 2020. It will then travel to Potsdam, Germany as the only other showing of this collection of paintings.

As expected there were a lot of people there. I also should have gone earlier in November before the Holidays and Closing crowds.

The exhibit was amazing. All color and clouds and cliffs. With water and buildings and bridges and lily pads. The landscapes showed the variety of places he lived, a personal travel log and development of style. There was a section with foggy paintings of London. Which then contrasted with the Garden paintings or the rural cliffs of Northern France.

I was impressed as I didn't have extremely high expectations since I have seen quite a bit of Monet in Chicago. I have a new found reverence for Monet, maybe I need to start painting again!

Thank you Denver. This is a nice artsy place to live. The next big one for Denver Art Museum will feature Frida Kahlo. I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of the Ponti building as well.

Denver Art Museum staircase. I love the Hamilton Building. Always have, since it opened in 2006.

This spring has been particularly great for special exhibits in Denver.

Denver Art Museum (DAM) has Degas, which is a must-see if you are interested in sculpture, painting or drawing. Degas, like Gaugin or Picasso did everything. Most of his sculptures were private studies made of wax, and then cast after his death. His women and horses are all amazing. The DAM exhibit is the only U.S. venue and it is beautifully designed and it's a chance to see the works that belong to institutions further east and in Europe. It's a throughly enjoyable exhibit. The DAM has some great quotes from Degas on the walls, he must have been a real character.

Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA) is hosting Cleon Peterson. Cleon's work is stark and violent. The compositions are excellent and beautifully executed. Although he is mainly known for paintings he had some incredible sculptures in the show. I was able to attend the opening and meet him which was very cool. He was really nice and we talked about art and told me he had a tiny studio that all of this huge work came out of. His advice to me as an artist was along the lines of "make tons of art!" Very inspiring.

If you're around Denver or coming to visit; try to get to these exhibits before they're gone.