We went to the museum today to see the bluebonnet paintings of famed Texas Impressionist, Julian Onderdonk.  He grew up in San Antonio in the late 1800's and studied art at Long Island, New York, from the same art teacher his father had.  Later his sister received an art education from the same teacher.  We got to see a reenactment of this sister who shared about her brother's art work.  She specialized in miniatures herself, and eventually became curator for the Witte Museum.

We haven't officially studied impressionistic art, since we are only up to the 1820's in world history.  My family was a bit confused by the blurry art when we walked into the gallery, so I shared the little bit I knew about appreciating this lovely style of painting. I told them about Claude Monet and the series of his famous "Water Lily" paintings. He painted the same theme in different parts of the day and different times of the year...each has a different look.  Seeing the paintings in person is an experience I hope to enjoy someday. 

Impressionist art does look blurry because it's meant to be viewed from a distance.  While watching hgtv one time, a designer recommended impressionistic art to a couple for some art niches on the second story of their two story wall.  I have wanted to do the same thing for our two story foyer.  But I can't afford the art.  I told the kids when we study impressionism, we'll get some canvas and oil paints and try our hand at painting impressionistic art. That gave them a goal to keep in mind while looking at the art. 

After touring the gallery, everyone was able to explain their opinion of their least favorite pieces, as well as their favorite pieces.  We also saw that we could look at the art historically.  Onderdonk painted scenes of many places in and around San Antonio that look drastically different today.  One spot was Alamo Heights, which in the early 1920's was a field of cactus and bluebonnets.  Today it is a busy metropolitan area.  We also got to see scenes of the misisons, the San Antonio River, the Guenther flour mill and more.  There were also sketches of studies in individual flowers from different angles, which I especially enjoyed.

We also compared the numerous bluebonnet paintings that were painted during different times of the day, from morning, to midday to twilight.  We also compared paintings in different types of weather, from sunny to foggy to rainy to the one of dark clouds rolling across the sky due to an impending storm. That particular piece moved me the most. I could feel the gush of cool air blow up, the flowers and grasses waving frantically in the gale, and the fear of how severe this particular thunderstorm could be. 

Additionally, Onderdonk painted scenes from where he was trained in Long Island, New York City and even the Thousand Islands.  There was even a sketch of Washington's headquarters in New York City!   

After experiencing the bluebonnets, we went to a different gallery upstairs which housed paintings from a variety of painters from Onderdonk to Theodore Gentilz.  Gentilz, who was trained in Paris, was from the nearby Alsatian town of Castroville and he painted Texan scenes in and around San Antonio in the old European style.  Initially, we were a bit disappointed in them.  Although they were incredibly sharp and crisp in detail, he was extremely sparing overall in detail and left out much of the intricate Spanish carvings in the missions.  Later, I happened to view the paintings from a distance and they suddenly looked terrific.  I called the family over to look and they had to agree.  From a distance, the paintings looked incredibly perfect, as if one could walk right into the painting.  

As we walked around and looked at the various paintings at our leisure, I had gotten ahead of the rest of the family and noticed a scene of La Grange, Fayette County, Texas.  I didn't realize we had a county named after the Marquis de Lafayette in Texas!  I thought I'd wait to see if the kids would notice.  They aren't museum buffs and I've been trying to train them in how to experience a museum.  I had told them to read the little signs and look for the painters Gentilz and Onderdonk.  Hmmmm, this would be a test to see if they were really reading these signs or not.  By the time I reached the other end of the room, the kids started calling me in hushed enthusiasm, "Mom!  Mom!  Come here!  Look at the sign...La Grange, Fayette County, Texas!"   (I was smiling from ear to ear!)  It was fun listening to them talk to each other. "It's named after Lafayette!"  "Well sort of."  My son fixed that problem!  He took his fingers and covered "Grange" so it would read "La Fayette."  They were quietly giggling!  They are so funny!  They had more excitement over that La Fayette sign than they did with any of the paintings today!