Traveling Tammy Visits the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

July 21, 2011

This summer, my family and I created a "bucket list" of fun things we wanted to do this summer around the Kansas City area. When warm weather gets here, it’s easy for the best laid plans to become abandoned as the weeks of summer seem to fly by, and our bucket list helps remind us to get out of the house every once and awhile.

Recently, we crossed off one of the few remaining items: visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Specifically, we saw the exhibit of Monet’s Water Lilies. The three panels of the one painting have been joined together for the first time in 30 years, and they make quite an impressive sight.

Accompanying the paintings were history and trivia about the famous painter and his renowned water gardens. One fun fact especially stood out—at one point, Monet had hired 6 different gardeners all just to take care of his pond. The sole job of one of those gardeners was to clean the lily pads of dust every day!

If art is your thing—or even if it’s not—there are a lot of great resources on the library’s website and shelves to learn more.

Under our Online Resources, there are lots of great sites about art, including these two.

• Google Art Project lets you explore the collections of famous museums around the world.
• Exhibition Monet is an interactive site helping visitors learn more about Monet and his works.

Also search our Catalog to find great books about art—whether specifically about the Nelson-Atkins, favorite artists, or how to create your own art!

• The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art : culture comes to Kansas City by Kristie C. Wolferman
• Monet : 1840-1926 pub. by Parkstone
• Paint with the Impressionists : a step-by-step guide to their methods and materials for today's artists by Jonathan Stephenson

~Alex R.
Parkville Branch