Ladder of Escape

Last Friday, Diggory and I ventured downtown to meet my friend (and willing cat sitter) Colleen for lunch at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.  The weather was nice, not too, too, hot, and many other tourists and locals were enjoying the sunshine out and about in the garden.  Diggory and I had a few moments to wander the paths and check out the art and fountain before settling down inside with Colleen for salads and ice tea.  

After lunch, we entered the National Gallery's West Building via the handicap-accessible entrance at Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue.  We headed straight to the exhibition Joan Miro: Ladder of Escape, on view through August 12, 2012.  (Here is a longer description of the exhibition and images of highlighted works.)  So, in a way, this isn't going to be a thorough museum review...we only had Colleen's lunch break to explore...but, the exhibition was really fascinating and I can describe (briefly, so as to not totally bore you) how we got from the West Building basement to the East Building Mezzanine with a stroller. 

So, if you are in the West Building and you need to get to the East Building (without going outside), and once you're on the ground floor, navigate your way through the Garden Cafe and the West Building gift shop toward the Fourth Street Plaza entrance.  You'll encounter a set of stairs, so take the elevator up one level to get to the lobby with the security desk.  Immediately to your left, and across the hallway, you'll see another set of elevators, which you'll have to take down to the Concourse level (of the East Building).  Turn left out of the elevator and walk through the children's gift shop, bookstore, Cascade Cafe, and gelato bar.  If you need it, there's a large bathroom with a changing table just after the long spectacularly lit hallway with the moving walkways.  From here it can be a bit tricky to navigate with a stroller.  We entered the auditorium lobby and took the very large elevator up to the mezzanine level, where the exhibition starts.  

The exhibition itself is really quite well done, and covers Miro's career in its entirety - though it is not, strictly speaking, a retrospective.  While the intellectual content and text are a bit high brow, the large colorful works of art were entertaining enough to hold (some of) Diggory's attention.  Colleen's name badge did the rest of the work.  Once you explore the first level of the exhibition, visitor's travel up the spiral staircase to the upper level.  If you have a stroller, back track through the first part of the exhibition and take the small elevator just outside the exhibition's entrance up to the next level.  Then speed through the end of the exhibition, turning right out of the elevator, to the top of the stairs, so you can catch the exhibition where you left off.  Most exhibition's I've seen in this gallery space end where you get off the elevator, but this one continues past the elevator and balcony (with excellent views of the Calder mobile by the way) into the next two large galleries.  You'll find an elevator nearby that will take you down to the ground level and the East Building's fourth street entrance.  There's a ramp here, if you come in or exit the East Building here.

From here, we walked across the National Mall to the Department of Agriculture's farmer's market and bought some blueberries and zucchini, two of Diggory's favorite foods.  Then we dropped Colleen off at work and made our way back to the L'Enfant metro station to catch the train back to our car (parked at the shopping mall across the river...).  All in all, a wonderful afternoon, with wonderful company, and wonderful art.