Lunch at the Modern

Went to MOMA to try to see the Van Gogh exhibit last weekend.  After deciphering the 7 or 8 lines in the lobby, all full of people asking each other if they were in/on the correct line, it seemed there was not any access to the Van Gogh and we left.   RE: the in/on thing.  If you are from mostly anywhere except New York City in the US, you wait in line.  If you are from New York City you wait ON line.  Why I do not know.  If anyone does, please enlighten me. 

SO, since we couldn't see that show we went to the American Folk Art Museum down the street. They have a show called The Seduction of  Light: Ammi Phillips/Mark Rothko Compositions in Pink Green and Red.

I don't know what inspired the show other than availability of the included paintings.  I LOVE Rothko.  I go out of my way to see his paintings whenever I can, but the ones here were generally not stellar, though they were in the selected color range.   The Ammi Phillips paintings were, though not totally new to me, fun to really see close up and personal.  That is one of the nice things about this slightly wacky museum.  You really can see things because it is generally nearly empty, even when MOMA is so packed that it is not worth the effort to get in because you know you won't be able to get close enough to see anything.   That said, the Phillips paintings in the Rothko color range?  That is a little like saying that Gilbert Stuart is like Degas because they both use paint!

The Phillips paintings, with their odd perspective and strange inclusions were great fun.  The little boy standing there dressed in his better than Sunday Best (He looks a little bit like an escapee from Picasso's circus performers) stands in front of a shelf on which sits a peach!  I ask you.... how much fun is that to look at?  Lots of fun in my estimation.  Anyway, all of that was the prelude to an early dinner/late lunch at the Modern   the Danny Meyer restaurant that is housed in MOMA.  Danny Meyer is the brains behind Union Square Cafe, Eleven Madison, Tabla, Gramercy Tavern etc etc etc.  Union Square has for as long as I have lived in NY been my absolute favorite restaurant.  The Modern is another sweetheart of a restaurant, as you can see from the dessert menu above.  Everything we had was really well perpared and full of interesting flavors.  We had fun, despite missing the Van Gogh show.

I have to learn to not let them all drift but to go in the middle of the run.  sigh.