Indianapolis Museum of Art

After the great Chinese food, we split up into a group going back to the track and a group going somewhere (anywhere) else out of the sun.  By now, I'm taking multiple benadryl and aloe vera lotion for the rash that I get every spring when I'm first exposed to the sun, so a cool, covered place was definitely in my future.  There was an art fair that I was interested in, but it was closing in an hour and had an admission fee, the Indianapolis Museum of Art was free and open for 2 more hours.  So, we decided to take a chance on seeing a couple of hours of great art even though when Rachel checked out the museum online it felt like something we could take or leave.  John said that he would donate a dollar for every work of art that "amazed", "stunned", "moved" or "overwhelmed" him.  We did have to pay to park the car, but that was a small price to pay when we drove past Robert Indiana's Love sculpture in the gardens of the museum. We entered and got a map,

 that I have to say did not do a thing for us because the place was a labyrinth full of niches, halls, and rooms full of the greatest artists.  This museum was also great at creating an environment for the piece of art like the library that the 


Rembrandt above was in.  There was also an illuminated manuscript in the case like the Book of Kells in Ireland, a curved Madonna and Child made of ivory like in Pisa, and these combined with Monet's beautiful scene in Venice and the Van Gogh made John and I feel that we were reliving our Europe trip earlier this year.  We started to run out of time quick and we were still not done with the first floor of 4...so we broke up

after taking this picture of Rachel and me in front of an O'Keefe that floored me.  We both said her art had never really appealed to us, but seeing this huge canvas that Elizabeth Arden had commissioned for her spa, I think we were won over.   
It was a good lesson for me in 

having to be present in front of the original in order to appreciate the work of art.  There was Tiffany stained glass, and a wealth of great artists that none of us expected to find on this trip.  Needless to say, John's donation soon took on epic proportions because of the number of times that we were all of the adjectives listed above.  If you want to be stunned into thinking about a trip to Indianapolis in order to see a collection that you don't expect to see outside of New York or Chicago in North America, then check out http://www.imamuseum.org  for the collections that this museum has.  This was a real highlight to the trip and we will definitely have to return in order to see all the things that we missed. love to everyone, jo