Saturday, August 11, 2012

Exhibition Review: “Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art


Currently on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the exhibition “Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia.” Also the name of a region in Greece, Arcadia became a designation in art and poetry for a mythical, idyllic, rural paradise in which the sensual pleasures of wine, music, and love are exchanged freely in a lush, natural setting, while society’s ills – such as war and death – are mysterious presences relegated to the margins. Such themes have been a mainstay of Western cultural production since antiquity, when the first-century Roman poet Virgil fleshed out the fabled region and its inhabitants most enduringly in his Eclogues.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Belly’s Wednesday Wine & Food Pairings (and Concert Review!)


Greetings my dozens of faithful readers. I hope you will be enthused to discover that, after a long hiatus, BWW&FP has returned! And this might truly be my favorite one yet (though it has some stiff competition), for a couple of reasons: I was dining with my very good friend, Samantha, and after our meal we took in a wonderfully fun concert. Who knew venturing out of one’s parents’ basement and interacting with people could be so enjoyable?