Birth of Impressionism (The Art of Un-Kid-Friendly)

When the De Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park advertised their new exhibit, Birth of Impressionism, it went directly onto my personal wish list. With a traveling husband and kids home for summer, I reserved tickets for an afternoon in the city with my girls.

Upon entering the museum we sensed a stodgy vibe, and I wondered if I had made the right choice to bring them along. After all, this was the line to enter:

After a few laps through the gift shop, a U-Turn at the too-many-people Cafe, and a few games of MathGirl, we were ready to hit the line for our reserved session. Luckily, the line moved quickly. We thought. Until we reached the crowd.

But that's OK, I do this for a living. I take kids out and about, and darn if I'm not going to have a good time doing it. So we used the time in line to chat about art, and the difference between realism and impressionism.

When we finally entered, I had the girls choose their favorite painting in each room and talk about why they liked it. We discussed colors, people, objects, titles, and artists. We stood close to paintings, and then we moved farther away, to view how the artwork changed with perspective. We choose our prettiest dresses, and guessed the ages of the children we saw in the pictures. While everyone else was in their audio-tour world, we observed the French Impressionists through our own eyes.

Then later, of course, we made science experiments in the Cafe. All is well that ends well, or so they say.

Thanks for reading. More family adventures are on display at Trekaroo's Spotlight Thursday link exchange!

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San Francisco