First, different books I read speak to each other, interact in surprising ways, spark projects I never expected to write.\u00a0 Or stories, essays, even books I write end up going together in ways I could never have imagined: they start an unexpected internal dialogue, even ignite a controversy.\u00a0 Which leads to more writing, more “arrangements” in my mind, in the body of my work.\u00a0 Every story or book I’ve written has added to the whole in ways I couldn’t have imagined.\u00a0 And like Barnes, I’m constantly re-arranging.<\/p>\n Then I have certain projects in mind, might even have launched them with some kind of fanfare, and yet–\u00a0 Something draws me off to another subject, to another vision, to another dream, another journey.\u00a0 My day at the Barnes was like that at every single turn.\u00a0 No matter what I was directed to look at by my smart and friendly guide, I kept drifting to a different painting or room or reflection or vision. I was on my own private tour.\u00a0 But then what can you expect?\u00a0 As Robert Heinlein said, “There is no way a writer can be tamed and rendered civilized or even cured.”<\/p>\n I guess you could say that to write is to wander…..<\/p>\n Lev Raphael is the art-loving, travel-loving author of Book Lust: Essays For Book Lovers <\/em><\/a>and 24 other books in genres from memoir to mystery\u00a0which you can find on Amazon.<\/a>\u00a0 He teaches creative writing workshops online at writewithoutborders.com.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was recently in Philadelphia on a museum trip and I’m still musing as a writer about the rich, rewarding experience. One of my destinations was the Barnes Foundation on Benjamin Franklin Parkway near the Rodin Museum, which I’ve blogged about on The Huffington Post.\u00a0 The Barnes is a work of art itself.\u00a0 The approach … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[452,497,451,95,449,453,165,1499,450,1501,1500,290,214,341,495,132],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-art","tag-authors","tag-barnes-foundation","tag-creative-writing-2","tag-dreaming","tag-imagination","tag-inspiration","tag-modigliani","tag-museums","tag-peter-paul-rubens","tag-philadelphia","tag-the-writers-life","tag-the-writing-life","tag-travel","tag-writing","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3939,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/3939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DSC01276\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC01276-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"DSC01277\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC01277-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"DSC01278\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC01278-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>The collection is unique for its stunning array of Renoirs, C\u00e9zannes, Matisses, and Manets–and how they’re displayed.\u00a0 This is not like any museum you’ve ever been to.\u00a0 Because each room replicates the original collection miles away to the millimeter, with paintings and furniture and objects arranged as ensembles.\u00a0 Of course, the setting is modern all the same, so it’s not like The Frick in New York with its Gilded Age opulence intact in room after luscious room.<\/p>\n![\"Frick2\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Frick2-300x133.jpg\")
<\/a>At the Barnes, the original mission<\/a> was to teach underprivileged art students, not stupefy or dazzle visitors, and Barnes was constantly fussing with his collection as he acquired new pieces.<\/p>\n![\"barnes-foundation-rm23w-600\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/barnes-foundation-rm23w-600-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Subjects and objects complement and even interrogate each other in geometric arrangements (as you can see above), or even have amusing dialogues.\u00a0 In one room, there’s a Rubens of an ecstatic King David playing the harp.\u00a0 His eyes are rolling up in his head and he seems to be staring right at the fleshy buttocks of a Renoir nude hanging right above him.<\/p>\n![\"rubens\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/rubens-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>The guided tour I took was informative, but as usual, I found myself drifting from the more famous paintings to unexpected canvases that captured me, like a gripping Modigliani that had a kind of proto-Jazz Age insouciance.\u00a0 She seemed both tender and wild.\u00a0 I wanted to know her story (or possibly write it?).<\/p>\n![\"bf206\"](\"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/readheadedwoman2-187x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The Barnes itself and moments like these in museums remind me so much of the writing life.<\/p>\n