It’s that time of year when NY is blessed with a visit by Sabine and Bärbel from the KHM. Sabine is retiring as Director General in about 18 months. This begins her farewell tour that culminates with a blockbuster Rembrandt exhibit. The exhibit will have over 50 painting at the KHM in October of next year. But this year, we partied.
Wednesday night was the opening of the “Bellini and Giorgione: In the House of Taddeo Contrarini” exhibit at the Frick Madision. The KHM loaned Giorgione’s Three Philosophers reuniting with Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, after over 400 years apart. This is only the second time Giorgione’s masterpiece was loaned. It is probably the last in our lifetime.
The reception that night was notable because of the guests. New Yorkers are back to being the most interesting artwork in a gathering. Women and men were dressed: orginal, gorgeous and inspirational. My only regret is I didn’t take pictures.
Thursday morning was a talk in the gallery with Deputy Curator, Xavier F. Salomon. Mr. Salomon spoke of the mysteries behind both paintings and the extensive research on both. It was such a good talk I purchased the book (completely out of character but Armand might like it).
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giorgione
Thursday was the big event, the Golden Fleece Gala at the Cosmopolitan Club. Thank you to Elizabeth for inviting us. Again, its as if we’ve all woken up from a bad dream. The vibe was buzzy- singalongs and dancing! People were Dressed. Armand wore his floral evening jacket to honor Géza. Géza decided to keep it simple in black tie. If only he expanded on how the Haubsburgs weren’t welcome in Austria in the 1960s.
Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our Viennese friends but look forward to seeing them in the spring.
Joie de vivre! Carpe Diem!
May I never forget…
