Pondering Degas at Portland Art Museum

One of the benefits of having a membership at the Portland Art Museum is that I feel free to go just to look at one or two paintings. No obligations to really tour the entire place to get the value from an admission fee. Just go and look at what interests me.

Yesterday I spent a long time with this portrait by Degas, of Madame Nittis. It strikes me that her head is very much shaped like an egg. And she slouches in the chair. I looked at her head for a long time and the masterful way her features are placed on this egg shape.

The museum is sometimes just the right place to go for a breath of fresh art air. I bought two books at the museum store. And I came home filled to overflowing.