my fave question

one of my favorite questions to ask someone is what they did today/how was their day? maybe it's because i like being asked this and like answering this question. i feel like only your good friends know and care about what you were up to on a particular day of your life. kinda like they care enough to ask and listen :)

today we went to the getty museum in california. it was SO pretty and luxurious. i think the weather added to the beauty of the place. we only paid $7 for parking- the rest was completely free of charge. i wonder where they get the funds to fund this place because this place sure is baller-style... i took this pic for lina b/c it reminded me of all the models she makes for architecture. it looks like im eating the darn thing but i'm actually just trying to look excited like how she gets excited about projects ;)

the museum's actually located at the top of a moutain. i'm not sure why but im guessing it's because it makes the place more beautiful with it's scenery. in order to get to the museum building, you have to ride a cable tram to the top of the moutain. it felt like we were traveling to a world of unknowns...which ironically became somewhat true for me.

some cool things i saw there...

one tree? or many?

never in my life have i felt such a strong urge to want to jump into a fountain. not even since i was little.

what i took away...
i just happen to come to the museum when a rare occurence of 15 rembrandt portraits from 15 different locations got brought together for an exhibit. the tour guide said it was a pretty special thing for not only scholars to view these oil paintings at the same time, but also the every-day common person who rarely gets the chance to view such amazing art.

although rembrandt's paintings dont appeal to my taste, i did enjoy the exhibit, learned lots, and found it really interesting. i def left feeling a lot more cultured :). if i somehow got a rembrandt painting, i would hang it in my library because i think his paintings are very calm, deep, and contemplative. the exhibit is called "rembrandt's late religious portraits" and it includes portraits of individuals painted as a certain religious figure. rembrandt painted these during a time in his life where he was going through many hardships of personal loss and financial trouble. one thing that was brought up was the fact that rembrandt continued to paint bold, daring, and strong paintings despite his hardships. this is one of the unsolved mysteries of rembrandt because he could have made money painting what he was once famous for. what i find interesting is that rembrandt continued to paint portraits of apostles, saints, christ, and mary during his times of trouble. it seems as if he somehow found comfort in these religious figures and identified to the suffering they went through for the sake of the gospel.

if i had to choose, rembrandt's self-portrait of the apostle paul was my favorite. it's interesting b/c rembrandt did around 100 self-portraits. maybe he was vain, shrugs, but i like to think it was just convenient for him to look into a mirror rather than ask someone to model for him. anyways, rembrandt painted himself very honestly in a direct yet humbling manner. the audio tour also mentioned this is the only portrait where the person is actually looking at the viewer. it seemed like he was engaging with me. the audio tour does a much better job of analyzing by saying "rembrandt as paul gazes at the viewer, perhaps asserting the artist's spiritual identification with paul's human limitations."