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I know the feeling. I used to have a study hall in the library, and I often spent it perusing big art books, and got to know the main artists and masterpieces pretty well.

In college, I took my first school trip to NYC to see the King Tut exhibit, and we also went to MOMA, where I saw Guernica for the first and only time. I had read about it a lot, and had seen it in books many times, but I wasn't prepared for its overwhelming size. It was FAR bigger than I expected, and it made a serious impact on me. In books, or on the Internet, all art is more or less the same size, the size of the page, or the screen. Guernica and a Vermeer are literally the same size, until you see them on a wall and realize that the Guernica is meant to punch you in the face, while the Vermeer is a tiny perfect jewel.

Since that trip in the early 80s, I try very hard to see the local art museum whenever I travel. Some have been surprisingly great (Rochester), some have been beyond awful (Mobile), but I've learned something about art from all of them.

And I still get surprised. I took my son to the Dali Museum in St Petersburg when he was in middle school, and didn't really know who Dali was. I was shocked at the incredible size of many of his most iconic works. They were huge, and filled with detail from corner to corner. Truly incredible.

As for my son, he had the same reaction that you and I had, and was transformed by seeing real art LIVE, where you can bask in the size, the colors, the magnitude of the experience of standing in front of an original work by a legendary, iconic artist. To this day, he will NEVER say no to an art museum.

I was glad to see someone talking about the same sort of experience with art.

Yeah, that was totally Magritte's thing. He painted a lot of clever—and also pretty strange—pictures. A surrealist through and through, and even one of the best-known representatives of the movement. He was particularly recognized for placing familiar objects in unusual and unexpected settings.

If you like that kind of art and happen to be in the area, I highly recommend the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres (Spain)—it's pretty trippy.

Wait, is this a pipe?

You're right, it's merely an electronic image of one

:)

Come on in and see what’s happening…

I can definitely imagine that. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about the subject, but I think he was probably quite amused by the pseudo-intellectual ramblings the art world came up with when discussing his works in the culture sections or elsewhere.

Good eye, you make me notice it! Thank you!