Wednesday July 6, 2022 Houston Museum of Fine Arts
I had been checking various art museums to see if any of the 1001 paintings we haven’t seen were on display, because we haven’t been able to travel since we got back from Amsterdam in early December 2019. In June I saw that the Houston Museum of Fine Arts finally had all three of their 1001 paintings on view. Sue didn’t want to go to Texas because of Governor Abbot, and it’s a Red state. My OCD overcame my resistance to visit, so I started looking at Southwest Airlines for flights to Houston. The cheapest flights were originally in September, but when I contacted the museum, they couldn’t tell me if all the paintings would still be on display. So I booked a round trip for Wednesday July 6th, ordered museum tickets, and a Houston Metro daily pass, and I was all set to go.
If you want to skip my rambling description of the trip you can go right to the photo album, if you even care about any of the 1001 paintings. The first 8 photos show the 1001 paintings and their information cards. I usually don’t leave photos of the information cards in the post, because I put the title of the painting and the artist’s name on the photo page. I left the information cards in the album because they contain more information about the painting and the artist, if you’re interested.
Wednesday morning I was up at 2:30 AM, a half-hour before the alarm I’d set. After a bowl of cereal I walked to the CTA Orange line at Washington/Wabash and caught the 4:05 AM train to Midway. There was a long line at security, but It didn’t take very long to get through because there were many people checking the boarding passes. Unfortunately I didn’t use the Pre-Check line that I was cleared to use, I never saw the signs directing me to Pre-Check. I shouldn’t be out alone. I bought a large coffee and waited for my 7:05 AM flight. The flight was delayed about a half hour. The plane was packed, so I got a middle seat, but the flight was only 2.5 hr. so I just closed my eyes and relaxed. We landed pretty close to the scheduled time. I located the bus stop at the Hobby Airport and got my bus in about 15 min. This bus took me to a Metro Rail line and this train took me to the Houston Museum Campus. The trip took about an hour. We went by the Astro Dome and the NGR Stadium where the NFL Houston Texans play. The train took me to the Museum District stop, and it was a two block walk to the first of three buildings that make up the Museum of Fine Art. Each of the building had a 1001 painting. This first building was Beck building. I found the first painting, "Portrait of an Old Woman" by Hans Memling this was #713. I think the Beck building is the largest of the three, and I took a lot of photos, as you’ll see. The second building, the Kinder building could be reached by an underground tunnel, so that made it easy. The Kinder building had modern and contemporary art. The painting there was "Orange and Black Wall" by Franz Kline this was #714. This museum was a bit smaller, but I still took many photos, and it is a good thing that I did. Because I found a substitute for another painting on the list. This painting "The Three Judges" by Georges Rouault is a substitute for a painting by this artist with the same name that is at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA in New York City. So I am counting this as #715.
The next building the Rienzi Foyer was further away, and it would take two buses and about 40 minutes. I was using the Metro app to check on the buses. I checked and the bus was scheduled to stop in front of the museum at 1:07 PM. I waited just inside the doors where I could see the stop because it was HOT in Houston. I started outside about 5 minutes before the scheduled time when I saw the bus go by the stop!!! Fortunately for me the next bus was due in 15 minutes, so this time I waited outside. The ride to the next bus stop was less than 10 minutes. But this next bus only came every 30 minutes, so my worry was that I might have just missed the 2nd bus and would have to wait a half hour for the next bus. But I only had to wait about 5 minutes for this bus. This ride was about 15 minutes. The buses really move in Houston, and the air conditioning has the buses cool so it was really comfortable in the 96 F heat.
The third building is the Rienzi Foyer. It is located on four acres of wooded gardens in the historic River Oaks neighborhood about 5 miles from the museum campus. This is a VERY UPSCALE neighborhood. This building was the home of philanthropists who collected art that is now part of the museum. Timed tickets are required. When I walked up to the door, there was no handle for me to open the door. But the door was opened by an attendant who scanned my ticket. I was the only person in the museum. This building is a house with art on the walls of the various rooms. I immediately found the 1001 painting: “Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus on Naxos” by Angelica Kauffmann and this is #716.
Now it was time to get back to Hobby Airport. I checked the Metro app and I got to the bus stop about 15 minutes before the scheduled time, just to be sure. The bus was just a little late, but it was nice and cool inside. This bus took me to another bus transportation center where I had to wait in the HEAT for about 15 minutes for the bus that took me back to the airport, at the same stop where I started.
This time I did use the Pre-Check line. The advantage is that there are many fewer
people, and you don’t have to take your shoes off. I bought a diet Coke on the way to my
gate. I texted Sue with my flight times,
and she said I should see if I could get an earlier flight. I’ll shorten this
story, I was able to get on an earlier flight, but we ended up sitting on the
plane waiting for two bags. So we left a few minutes earlier than my originally
schedules flight; that I would guess was probably also delayed. The trip home did have one highlight. I got
on the Orange line at Midway, and there weren’t many people on the train. At an intermediate stop a man in his 50’s got
on and sat across from me. Shortly after
that he started talking out loud in Spanish to no one in particular. He eventually talked louder and angrier,
throwing a in F@@K every
so often. I don’t think was talking to me, but I didn’t make eye contact. I got off at Roosevelt Road and picked up the
#4 bus on Michigan, its last stop is about 10 minute walk to our building. I got home at about 9:30 PM, so it was a long
day. Sue made fried eggs for me, since I
hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 3:00 AM.
The things I/we do for art. Below is the link to the photos.
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