If you know me personally, then you know of my immense and passionate love for the glorious Pablo Picasso. I'm almost a bit weird about it, feeling a REAL connection as if I knew him in another lifetime or something. I became consumed one evening, after seeing a photo of the young Pablo at age 19, and have since written an entire screenplay based (in part) on his budding years as an unknown artist in early 1900's Spain. (I know, I know, this has suddenly taken a hard right into hippie-ville, but I can't help it!)
Forgive me while I gush a bit. I just love him. Of course his art, but there's always been something about those incredibly soulful (slightly devious) eyes, that captivated me almost as much as his influential Blue Period. Oh, just stop me now. I could go on and on...
So, when our recent trip to New York led us to a free afternoon with nothing to do, the decision to spend it at the Met, was indeed the right one. It was like the curator spent the past thirty-something years, dreaming up a way to make me happy.
In addition to my unearthly obsession with Señor Picasso, (as if that weren't enough) the second exhibit was a trip through time, honoring women, in all our glory ~ through FASHION. Yep, heaven.American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity was the most breathtaking display of how we have spent the past fifty years inventing, reinventing and expressing ourselves (politically, socially, sexually) through what we wear.
My jaw was literally on the ground the entire time. I felt proud, and feminine and special to be a part of this esteemed gender. How, ladies, can we walk out the door every day and NOT care to express ourselves this way? And the bohemian and flapper periods were so spectacularly gorgeous, that dare I say, I'd wear EVERY SINGLE PIECE today. (Sigh)
I left with passions renewed and a deeper sense of why I love being a woman. The above photo that guided me into becoming a writer, and the snapshot I took of this unknown artist... contemplating his own creations, who unintentionally inspired me.
I am in awe.
x
