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One of the joys of living in Richmond, Virginia, is the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. Sure, people in New York have the Metropolitan and the DC crowd has the Corcoran, Chicago has AIC, and blah blah blah everywhere you go. I'd put the VMFA up against any of them. But if you are like me, and painting is your guilty pleasure akin to playing golf or tennis or whatever, it can suck having access to such a great museum. Here's why:

We went to the VMFA's Whistler to Cassatt - American Painters in France exhibit a couple of nights ago and I took away two things from it. One, it was one of the best art exhibits I have ever enjoyed. Two, I will NEVER be able to paint even 1/100th as well as some of these artists. For a while this really took the wind out of my sails.

The painting attached to this blog is Madame Errazuriz by John Singer Sargent. The first thing you should know is that seeing a reproduction is nothing like seeing the actual painting.  Nothing! Not even close.  This painting is absolutely amazing. The cautious detail in the face and skin tones.  The broad energetic big bold brush strokes of her hair. The tiniest dot of paint representing her earring which looks like an actual diamond incorporated into the work. It is stunning in both its simplicity and its technical mastery. There are at least 100 other paintings and drawings, and it almost becomes so overwhelming that you cannot take it all in at once (true of all great art). The exhibition only remains until the end of July, so it you are anywhere remotely near Richmond over the next couple of weeks, get your ass over there. You're welcome.

But yeah, I will never be anywhere close to these painters, which made me sad temporarily.  But not permanently. Not everybody can be Michael Jordan but that shouldn't stop anybody from enjoying a good game of HORSE in the driveway. You're no Meryl Streep? Don't let that stop you from auditioning with your local theatre group. I will never be Rembrandt, but I don't really care and neither should you. I will try to learn from the masters in this exhibition, and from all paintings and painters I admire whether the work is from 1893 or 2022. 

Finally, I think that if I try hard enough I just might be able to paint 1/100th as well as John Singer Sargent, or Vincent Van Gogh, or Vermeer or whoever rings my bell at any given moment.  Frankly, 1/100th would be pretty damn good so it is a very worthy goal.