Colin and I work most days of the week, most weeks of the year. Neither of us have ever been particularly inclined to have regularly scheduled days off. We love what we do and mostly, we worry about not having enough time to create all the things we want to make before our time here is done. But, when we do take time off, we do some serious playing. We will travel for 4 – 6 weeks, often planning our vacation time around specific artists whose work we want to study or museums we want to visit. Nothing compares to actually spending time with artworks in person, in your own time – it is the best education. And, we get to see all the gems that we never find in the art history books.

I was recently wandering through some folders from museums we’ve been to in some of our favorite places. There are so many marvelous sculptures that we’ve been fortunate to spend one-on-one time with. In no particular order, I selected a few from a number of museums we’ve visited that jumped out at me for different reasons – some classical favorites, some curiously unknown, but all inspiring. Enjoy, and hopefully, one or two might beckon you to go visit them in person too.

The Borghese Gallery in Rome – the must see museum for sculpture lovers

One of our favorites is outside in the garden…

Florence’s Piazza della Signora – this Giambologna sculpture was one of my first loves in Italy

Musée D’Orsay in Paris has oh so many favorites!

And then this guy… whaaaat?

I love that we will see a clay sketch of something like Ugolino and his Sons in Paris

And find the monumental marble version at The Met in New York City

Also at The Met

La Louvre in Paris – so many key works, but all the little known masterpieces too.

San Francisco

Arte Moderna in Rome – one of my all time favorite sculptures

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam – Clay wizardry

My first Bernini encounter at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid

The Detroit Institute of Arts – one of my favorite bozzettis ever. What’s not to love about a big ol’ pile of centaurs?

Laocoön and His Sons is dynamic and striking when you see him at the end of a hall in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

And even more so when you find the original marble in a courtyard at The Vatican Museum in Italy

Caffé Canova Tadolini – a restaurant in what was once Canova’s studio in Rome. Yes, you actually get to eat next to his sculptures (and sometimes under them)

Museo MacS in Sicily – great contemporary figurative art museum in Catania in a beautiful historic building

The Tate Britain in London

Okay, now you’re just showing off with a gigantic terra cotta sculpture at the Jacquesmart-Andrée Museum in Paris (note to self: please don’t touch the artwork!!)

Little dragon-gargoyle treasures at the British Museum

And finally, some wonderful works from the Boboli Gardens in Rome