New York City,

> The best part of today, aside from seeing people I love graduate from college, which cannot be gauged, was a visit to the Frick Collection housed in a fabulous mansion across from Central Park. It possess a wonderful eclectic mixture of magnificent art, the Goyas transition to the Manets, the Degas juxtapose against the Toulouse-Lautrecs and the Titians, Holbeins, Gainsboroughs, Corots and Turners jumble together in a fantastical riot of imagery. This is a gallery where centuries of art have been distilled down to esoteric essentials and the experience is the better for it. In addition to the paintings, there are ceramics from the orient, a plethora of clocks, gilded furniture and tasseled chairs. The bones of the mansion are equally decorative with ornately carved moldings around every door and window, sculpted marble fireplaces and a grand stair case with a pipe organ on the landing. (Unfortunately no pictures were allowed.) Through it all the Vermeers, unassuming in their tiny frames, reward the viewer with a sumptuous view of life gone by, much like the Frick itself.

#art