What most impressive museum exhibits have you seen? Please add yours
* Venus of Willendorf in Vienna. After looking for it a long time, I finally asked for help. I was really shocked . It's very small.
* the Assyrian part of the British Museum. I deliberately sought out the Elgin Marbles because I had heard so much about them. Frankly I wasn't too impressed. And then I stumbled on the Assyrian stuff and was blown away.
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The Working Men’s Institute Museum was worth a visit. It's a bizarre museum that is an eclectic clash between hoarding and oddities, with a lot of genuine old scientific stuff tossed in to round out the collection. If I was ever to put a museum together, it would look just like this one...genuine shrunken heads, and all!
Gogh, and the Stedelijk; Rouen; Vatican; British Museum; Uffizi;.....
And my parents took me once to the Smithsonian and to the NY Metropolitan and Museum of Natural History many times. I found the MOMA later.
I have been more than impressed, even overwhelmed, innumerable times, obviously. Lindbergh's plane, the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Night Watch, The Thinker, the Sistine Chapel, and so on and so on.
BUT THE EXHIBIT IN ALL MY TRAVELS THAT I WAS MOST THRILLED BY, THE FULFILLMENT OF A DREAM FROM MY YOUTH, WAS THIS ONE IN OSLO:
THE KON-TIKI!
On Fridays at 4 pm The Modern Museum of Art in Manhattan let's everyone in for free. Of all the freebies I've ever received, seeing MOMA was by far the best. If you get a chance, go. The Fifth floor has nearly every famous Impressionist painter's works on the walls. These two stuck out.
Van Gogh's Starry Night had the biggest crowd. I don't know I am but a Layman, but the texture, colors, and swirls of paint seem to explain the painter's thoughts to me in a very profound way. Seeing this painting and knowing Van Gogh's history cleared up a lot for me. I dunno, when you view this painting it's like you are looking through Van Gogh's very eyes, and understand how his mind worked and how he saw everything. His Unique view of Life, I never had that reaction before.
But my favorite painting was this one. Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918). Adele Bloch-Bauer II. 1912.
Pictures do not do this painting justice. It has the most delicate lines and most delicate pastel colors. Which set off the face. The face is different from the rest and seems to stand out in a three dimensional style. It's just Marvelous and somehow different than all the other Impressionist Paintings there. It is my favorite also because of its History. Stolen by the Nazis in 1938, and then kept byAustria refused to release it, until 2006 in a very high profile Court case.
"The Austrian museum where they resided after the war was reluctant to return them to their rightful owners, hence a protracted court battle in the United States and in Austria (see Republic of Austria v. Altmann) ensued, which resulted in five Gustav Klimt paintings being returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in January 2006." Wikipedia
A wonderful Documentary on the History cleared of this painting:
https://m.
And then there is this:
The Bell X-1 Airplane (Rocket Plane would be more correct as the X-1 carried its Oxygen onboard as LOX) was flown by General Charles Yeager (Ret) faster than the speed of sound, the first man to that (in level flight anyway), on October 14, 1947. And the X-1 hangs in The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
You see "Chuck" Yeager is from my tiny Home town here in West Virginia. And this man is a Bona Fide Legend around here. Lots of Chuck Yeager stories. And his are all true. Just an AMAZING AMERICAN, and arguably the Best Pilot who ever Flew. I actually was his Mother's next door neighbor for 30 years, until she passed away. Lovely Lady.
I have been there many times and always leave with the same sense of awe and wonder at what we can do - and what we have done. So much wrapped in war.
The SR71 Blackbird is there.
You will just stand there and contemplate when you look into the Enola Gay
Concorde
Discovery
As with any museum, you can browse quickly and be done with it or you can visit over and over, really learn about what you see. Contemplate it, putting it in historical context and consider where it got us to today.
And while not a museum, this one has a draw that is stirring and incredibly sad. The gaping black granite wound on our National Mall.
...at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1987. In the gift shop, I stood in line behind Teeny Duchamp (Marcel's widow), and when she opened her wallet to pay for some Duchamp stuff, there was Marcel staring back at me from the wallet, in a photo from the 1950s.
Also, "GERMS: Under the Microscope" at the Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, CA.
The exhibit just closed last Sunday (10/22), but almost half of it will be returned to me soon. I had about 30-40 pieces from my collection in the show, along with pieces from the collections of Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo and others.
Here are some examples:
walking through exhibits in Philly. We saw an outstanding exhibit of Dali's work, beautifully ordered and displayed. I enjoyed the Wyeth exhibit, the one at the Philadelphia Museum, and then I visited the Brandywine Museum where Wyeth's work is on display. I took the kids to that one. My youngest loved the painting of a pig, a huge porker he stared at forever. Didn't outrank Armor Hall in Philly where they have a life-size horse and knight in full armor. But it was a close second. Also a big fan of Thomas Eakin's work. PAM has a permanent display of his portraits; they also did a separate show. Thoroughly enjoyable.
One of the most interesting museums in the Philly area is the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians. All sorts of medical equipment and medical oddities. Reminded me of a smaller version of the Smithsonian exhibits I'd seen on school trips. Elephantiasis. Eek!
But I'd have to say Monet's pink, country house outside Paris was my all time favorite. The lily ponds are there, the blue-green Japanese bridge and the wonderful, flowered arbor are real, touchable, almost fairy-like. Made me feel as if I'd stepped into one of Monet's paintings. That was a glorious experience.
There are others, of course. I've been to the British Museum and those ancient exhibits are mind-boggling. Also been to the Louvre, spent a full day walking the floors. Surprised at the size of the Mona Lisa. I expected her to be huge.
But Monet's house and grounds stole my heart.
Olive Grove by Vincent Van Gogh
But a place. I've been to the Al-Hijr archeological site in Saudi Arabia.
Spent 3 days there camping and roaming about looking at the tombs and an old Ottoman fort nearby. This was 40+ years ago. Not so sure if they would let you camp there now.
The Gold Museum in Lima, Peru is amazing.
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It was pretty awesome actually! 
