in the Peacock Room

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Val and I were in Washington, D.C. for a week. He attended a training course in the city and I was on vacation mode, fresh from boot camp. I was so happy because this trip made one of my wishes true: I got to visit the Smithsonian!

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Freer | Sackler. The docent told me that the highlight of any visit to the art galleries was the Peacock Room. It was originally a dining room in London owned by Frederick Leyland. An American artist, James McNeill Whistler, coloured the room blue and painted golden peacock motifs in it. Because it's a dining room originally, the shelves typically contained ceramics and porcelains. When I visited the room, the shelves were empty; this allowed me to view the room as an artwork (rather than the background of art pieces). 

A shocking artwork at that because there was so much gold in it.


The windows (floor to ceiling painting of peacocks in the middle of the photo) were shuttered the day I visited so I failed to see the room in all its colourful glory. But the dark fixtures allowed me to see the room as it appears at night. It's cozy but I don't think I'd be able to eat dinner in it and hold a decent conversation (I'd be very distracted by the artwork). I also can't see myself eating in this dining room everyday because it's way too dark for my taste (I wouldn't be able to see my food!).

On one side of room (left side of the photo), there's a painting entitled "The Princess from the Land of Porcelain". I didn't notice it at first but the woman in the painting was actually not East Asian. But she's in Asian garb and standing in a room with Asian art. It reminded me of a painting I saw in SFMOMA: Yasumasa Morimura's study of Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring. 

On the other side of the room (right side of the photo) was a painting of two fighting peacocks, entitled "Art and Money", which was a symbol of the conflict between the artist (Whistler) and the patron (Leyland). 

I ended up exiting the room speechless. I haven't made up my mind if I liked the room or not. It was just so many stimuli in such a tiny space! It definitely is a highlight of my trip to the gallery.

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