Purely for the convenience of transit and the fact that both my mom and sister also had free access to the museum, I chose to visit the MoMA. Unfortunately, I did have an appointment to get two of my wisdom teeth removed that morning, but this would not stop me from completing my mission (I did not have time to go any other day 😔).

Nevertheless, my mom, sister, and I made it to West 53rd Street and by sheer coincidence caught my high school marching band performing in the Labor Day Parade.

Leading up to this trip I was a bit skeptical about bringing my mom with me since she has never really expressed her interest in art, yet I found that she had the most insightful commentary to offer on certain pieces. Most notably, she was enthralled by the displays of kitchenware in the 5th floor gallery. “I like it; it’s beautiful because it’s practical.”

“I want to have these in my kitchen” she said about a set of forks and spoons that I believe look utterly unergonomic, but I guess that shows a difference in our perspectives. Her argument in support of the sideways-bowled spoons is that you hold the spoon parallel to your mouth when you eat, thereby making them easier to use. While I strongly disagree with my mom’s love for these pieces of silverware, I realize that it reveals a little about her relationship with art as someone who never really interacted with art during her education and had instead prioritized learning English and making a living. My mom cares for practicality and that made the MoMA’s architecture and design exhibits really speak to her. 

Personally I enjoyed Monet’s water lilies the most, primarily due to the way each painting portrays a different time of day and lighting through subtle differences in color. Sadly, the photos do not accurately represent these colors and it was very difficult to take photos in such a crowded room.

My mom, on the other hand, called Monet’s paintings a “mess.” We soon realized that this was because she forgot to wear her glasses and could not actually tell that there were water lilies depicted in the paintings.

The asymmetrical face of this portrait really spoke to me and my own lopsided, swollen face in the moment.

Before we left, my sister stopped at the gift shop to buy a couple postcards that depicted artworks that she thought “matched the vibe” of each of the friends she intends to send them to. In this way she transformed the meaning of the original artworks.