Autumn in New York

Recently I have talked to many people who get out of the city on the weekends.  I get it but we prefer to stay in town and take in all the things that there are to offer.   I was a little rainy over the weekend so not enough walking but it was great to take in the sights.

We started at the Guggenheim.  The building is so beautiful that one of my all time favorite exhibits at the Guggenheim was the 50th anniversary event.  Tino Sehgal was the artist behind the concept of when you come to a museum you are no longer a spectator but a participant.  The museum was completely void of art and random people would come up and talk to you as you strolled up the circular ramp.

Right now there is a retrospective on Agnes Martin, born in Canada but considered an American abstract artist.  Her work is minimalist.  Took her 20 years to actually like one of her own pieces.  Her work is serene yet sophisticated and has a similarity to the stripes, the soft colors and the squares that she honed in on throughout her career.   This piece was one of my favorites in the show.

Although this gold layered piece which is called “Friendship” is in line with the grids she worked on but much more intense than most of her other work.

After leaving the show we went down to the Met Breuer housed in the old Whitney Museum.  I have always loved that building.  The opportunity to curate just a few small shows in one house is impactful.  I give the Met board a huge amount of credit for taking over this building after the Whitney moved downtown.  It has given the Met an opportunity to showcase all the modern art that they have been acquiring for decades.  These ceiling lights on the first floor when you walk in are now iconic.

There are two shows now and soon to be a third next Tuesday.  We were hoping to see the Kerry James Marshall show but didn’t realize it had not opened yet.  Gives us a reason to return.  Instead we saw the Berggruen Paul Klee collection. Fred’s favorite artist.  This is the largest collection of Klee’s work.  This piece is called Junkerngasse in Bern.  Klee drew this at 13 years old.

Perhaps Klee was a feminist?  This is called In Memory of An All-Girl Band.

Just a still life that takes your breath away.  The colors are so vivid.

Downstairs there is an installation of Diane Arbus.  Kind of cool how they installed the space.

This piece is called Five Members of the Monster Fan Club, 1961.  Many of her photos document life on the streets of NYC.

There is a new restaurant, Flora Bar and Flora Coffee, downstairs that is supposedly quite good.  They added a bar and did a little bit of renovation to the downstairs area.  It is run by the team behind Estella and Cafe Altro Paradiso downtown.

We opted to go down to Grand Central to check out the new Great Northern Food Hall.   No matter how many times I walk into this room the sheer size and architecture takes my breath away.

This food hall is Nordic inspired and created by Claus Meyer from Noma in Copenhagen.  The pastries here are amazing.  This is the Fresnapper.  They were giving out tastes.

Classic Nordic open-faced sandwiches.  We had two, salmon and herring.  The flavor profiles are not what we are used to so it will be interesting to see how they do.  There is also a bar and a place where they serve grain bowls.

On the otherwise there is a deli and hotdog shop.  The dogs are loaded with pickled items from beets to onions.  We went simple with a beef dog.  Lots of flavor.

Back downtown for a little rest before heading back into midtown to have dinner at the Modern.  It is such a beautiful restaurant.  Some highlights.  Foie gras tart.

Poached egg over melted fontina cheese, croutons and shaved white truffles over the top.  Tis the season.  Insanely decadent.

It was quite the day.  Damn I so love this city.