Weekend Adventure = The Getty Center

Eric and I visited the Getty yesterday and we had such a good time we ended up staying the whole afternoon until we could barely feel our feet. The majority of the day was spent browsing the various exhibits indoors but the thing I love about the Getty is it's just as visually appealing outdoors. We spent some time laying around on the lawn enjoying the sunny weather, eating hotdogs, and people watching. All of the art was amazing, some more thought provoking than others. My favorite piece of the day was a little watercolor called Waiting (1882 c.) by Edgar Degas. I am going to look into getting a print for the apartment. 


The decorative art exhibit was above and beyond my favorite part of the day. I fell absolutely in love with the beautiful French armchairs and furniture from the 1700s. I would give anything to be a fly on the wall when museum conservators restored these things. Interesting factoid: Furniture became increasing specialized in the 1700s in France, and chairs in a variety of shapes and sizes were one of the most important features in a formal reception room. They were designed either as chaises courants (literally, running chairs), to be moved around the room as needed, or chaises meublants (fixed chairs), to be placed against the wall as part of the interior architecture. 


I was a little obsessed with this exhibit so I did some more reading on the Getty's website. They have listings of every item including in-depth descriptions and in some instances photos of the furniture pre-restoration if that's your thing :)


I highly doubt I will ever get my hands on a chair of the caliber that I saw at the Getty, but it's even more inspiration for my projects moving forward (Chair #2 is awaiting paint as I type). I have already begun researching the process of gold leaf gilding to match the effect.


I'll be posting some more fun pics of our day later! For now I need to get off the computer and spend what's left of the weekend with E. Happy Sunday!