REALLY BIG ART SHOW

[By the way, you can CLICK on any of these photos in this blog to get the full larger view.]

And there you have it. Six huge floors of modern and contemporary art from Czech and French masters starting in the 1800's.

You know you are in for a ride, as you approach the building.

I am not sure if these figures on the cafe terrace are meant to be the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, but that is what they seem to be.

The building itself appears from the outside to be one of those functional communist monoliths until we walk inside and look up in the famous atrium.

How green is my thingamajig?

The permanent collection is free to the public and to start you take the elevator to the 5th floor. You are confronted at once with the extraordinary work of a prolific and beautiful African artist who paints often on jute sacks.

Wouldn't you love to have her in your front hall and come home to her every night? She might make all other things bearable.

And, above, there is his signature - El Sy.

Moving down the broad staircase to the 4th floor, you find acres of 19th century Czech paintings and sculpture, and, like almost all of European and world art at that time, you see us moving out of the dark and into the light.

This piece is called "Birch Trees" and it reminds me of Manitoba and Ontario and of Canadian artists of the same period.

The third floor hurls us quickly into the 20th Century.

Then, half the vast expanse of the floor is given over to the great and famous Impressionists. They are all there - Gauguin, Matisse, Sisley, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir (many pieces and paintings) and a few signature Picassos.

and an entire room of Georges Braque

And that was it for me, kids.

This is an exhibit that cannot possibly be absorbed in one visit.

I ended my stay with a scrumptious bowl of tomato soup on the terrace reading a murder mystery and watching a very little kid flying by with great expertise on a scooter or whatever these contraptions are called these days.