i ♥ dc: no chit.

How’s this for style? A Degas and Whistler in a sitting room setting?

I hate bullshit. I hate that crap on CNN about Washington all the time. As if the ogres in Congress were the only reason to be there. There is something about an area that houses that much stuff, that you have to love. One has to take your hat off to the Smithsonian for that amazing museum complex. But little gems like the Phillips, the Women’s Museum and the Corcoran make it a worthwhile art adventure. The wonderful Hirschhorn is more cutting edge than MoMA sometimes (and more interesting than PS1).

Phillips: (above) Interesting new work. (below) The kind of  “in” joke: I’m Vaticany.

You can’t not admire the housing of the Phillips, which is more inviting, than the actual claustrophobic housing of the Gardner in Boston, or the patinaless walls of the Ringling in Sarasota.

This intriguing Gerhard Richter’s Annunciation after Titian: I think I saw at the Chicago show early 2000s, now in the Hirschorn.

Whistler’s actual Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery

Nam June Paik’s Electronic Superhighway

If you are a type that doesn’t want to be in a museum, what would be cooler than the National Portrait Gallery? There is lots of stuff, but what is cool is some of the shows and an installation like Electronic Superhighway? Or the Aviation Museum.

The newer American Indian Museum is interesting inside and out.

The National Gallery has a great collection and the new wing is always interesting. There is the sculpture galleries of both of the Hirschhorn and the National Gallery.

Off the Mall you can find oddball public art pieces.

And if you want something more visual, why not take in the old United States Botanic Gardens, video link below.