Report from NYC: Museum roundup

New York City undergoes a cultural reawakening in the fall. A number of major new exhibitions have opened and some older ones are just coming down. Here are a couple that have caught my attention:

Exhibit A
Over at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, there's a show I'm dying to see, called Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton .

This show is a survey of Peyton's intimate, jewel-toned portraits of well-known musicians and artists over the past 15 years. The New Museum has a wonderful subsection of the website devoted to this exhibit, with an interesting interview with the artist.

Exhibit B
A master of a completely different style and subject matter, Giorgio Morandi, is being featured at the Metropolitan Museum right now.

This is the first comprehensive survey of these calm, contemplative works by "one of the greatest 20th-century masters of still-life and landscape painting in the tradition of Chardin and Cézanne," says the Met's website.

Exhibits C and D
Also on my must-see list are two major exhibits that are drawing huge crowds:

I'll be off to Central Park to see Zaha Hadid's Chanel Contemporary Art Container - a futuristic pavilion housing an exhibition of art inspired by Chanel's emblematic quilted bag.

And now that Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night has opened at the MoMA, I'll be jostling my way through the crowds to stand aghast before his fabled Starry Night.

With the weather getting chillier and more blustery as we inch our way into winter here in NYC, it's just as well there's all this fantastic art to keep me indoors.