El Jefe and I were at a private party last night at the Museum of Fine Arts, which currently has a fabulous exhibit of French paintings on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in NYC. While we were seated at a little table with some friends, a couple asked if they could join us. We all got to talking and found that she was the curator at the museum in charge of the exhibit.
She had a very German name, but no accent, so El Jefe inquired about her family and we heard this fascinating story. Her father was a prisoner of the Russians in Siberia for 6 years during and after WWII and was one of the few who survived the ordeal. He survived because he managed to learn Russian and thus got to spend some time as an office worker rather than at hard labor. After he was released, he returned to east Germany and then he and her mother escaped to New York when our new friend was only 3 months old. They had to leave most of their family behind. We had a great discussion with her and her husband, retired from the German consular corps, about the changes in east Germany and Europe they have seen.
Afterwards she offered to take us through the exhibit, and we got our own private tour of the exhibit with her! She described how the paintings are shipped, which is a complicated logistical process, and how they are accompanied by museum curators who stay until they are actually hung on the walls.
El Jefe and I had been looking forward to the chance to see this exhibit, but were truly blessed to meet these fascinating new friends and be treated to an art historian's tour. The exhibit is great, go see it if you can.
She had a very German name, but no accent, so El Jefe inquired about her family and we heard this fascinating story. Her father was a prisoner of the Russians in Siberia for 6 years during and after WWII and was one of the few who survived the ordeal. He survived because he managed to learn Russian and thus got to spend some time as an office worker rather than at hard labor. After he was released, he returned to east Germany and then he and her mother escaped to New York when our new friend was only 3 months old. They had to leave most of their family behind. We had a great discussion with her and her husband, retired from the German consular corps, about the changes in east Germany and Europe they have seen.
Afterwards she offered to take us through the exhibit, and we got our own private tour of the exhibit with her! She described how the paintings are shipped, which is a complicated logistical process, and how they are accompanied by museum curators who stay until they are actually hung on the walls.
El Jefe and I had been looking forward to the chance to see this exhibit, but were truly blessed to meet these fascinating new friends and be treated to an art historian's tour. The exhibit is great, go see it if you can.
7 comments:
How cool is that?!
Monet in Normandy will be here in a few days.
What a cool thing to have happen!
We are going there for my birthday.
A Camille Pisarro(French Pointillist/Impressionist painter)is currently at our city's art museum.
What an incredible opportunity...made even more enjoyable by the story of how an individual triumphed in the midst of such adversity. Am going before I have my knee replaced as I am so enamoured of the Impressionists.
What an incredible blessing and experience.
Serendipity is the best! What a lovely evening. And a private tour!
(turning into shades of green dots......)
How wonderful that she found someone that would appreciate her familys story and the tour. What a wonderful gift for you both!
You got to see an Ingres! Oh, how joyful!
Post a Comment