Museums Share Moments of Zen With Peaceful Artworks

  • March 29, 2020 17:19

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"Landscape at Drumul Taberei" by Ileana Radulescu (Romanian, 1909-1981).
The Wende Museum
Agnes Pelton, Day, 1935. Part of the exhibition "Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist," temporarily closed at The Whitney.
Phoenix Art Museum

While many museums are currently closed to the public, some have been sharing their most zen artworks on social media with #MuseumMomentofZen. So while you #stayathome, find some peace in art.

1. Glimpse a "turning point"

In Culver City, Calif., the Wende Museum preserves Cold War art, culture, and history from the Soviet Bloc countries and collection highlights are now viewable online. The museum is named for the Wende (pronounced “venda”), a German word meaning “turning point” or “change” that has come to describe the transformative period leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The Buddha triumphing over Mara, 850–950. India, probably Kurkihar, Bihar. Basalt. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S598.
Asian Art Museum

2. Experience transcendence

While the popular traveling exhibition Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist is currently closed after its recent opening at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the artist's modernist visions and her fascinating story are revealed in these The New York Times and Hyperallergic pieces.

3.Take a virtual hike

From San Francisco's Asian Art Museum comes a 1-minute mental journey to China's famous Mount Yandang with masterful artist Chang Dai-chien. Or meditate with the Buddha triumphing over Mara.

John Appleton Brown (1844-1902) "Ocean Sunrise," pastel.
Harvard Art Museums

4. Revere nature

The Harvard Art Museums' #MuseumMomentofZen on Sunday noted positive vibes in the work of 19th-century Massachusetts artist John Appleton Brown, who was nicknamed 'Appleblossom Brown" for his cheerful scenes of flowering orchards. “[Brown] makes you think of the happy places that you have seen, and the happy events that have occurred in your summer days, he enlightens you concerning his experience and sets you into a hopeful mood…” wrote Frank T. Robinson in Living New England Artists (1888).

Emil Carlsen (1853-1932) Still Life.
Worcester Art Museum

5. Keep it Simple

A still life can be a quiet contemplation, as seen in the work of Emil Carlsen at Worcester Art Museum.

For more inspiring, serene artworks, follow #MuseumMomentofZen on social media. 


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