Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC
February 2025
If modern art is your thing, the Hirshhorn is the place to go for that if you’re in Washington, D.C.
Unfortunately, modern art is not my thing. I was fortunate enough to have an artistic friend who opened my eyes to the point of modern art, to be provocative and postmodern and deconstructive. I appreciate that; I’ve certainly seen and appreciated artistic works that deconstruct their genre. And indeed, the Hirshhorn contains a piece playing off of Magritte’s The Treachery of Images, which I find endlessly amusing. Usually, though, modern art just leaves me cold.
But if modern art is your thing, there’s plenty of it in the Hirshhorn, from abstract sculptures to a photo of nude artists laying on top of each other.
During my visit, two exhibitions particularly drew my attention. Banksy had put up though-provoking giant questions in the basement, next to the gift shop. Not question marks, actual sentences questioning values, justice, and the like. And, of course, next to the gift shop there were a few sentences questioning the importance of consumption. The top floor contained a multi-room exhibition on OSGEMEOS, a pair of Brazilian street artists that create massive, multi-story murals (among other art). Besides featuring their art, the exhibition also showed a bunch of photographs from their life and various sketches. (If you’re visiting with kids, note that one room contains a full-size sculpture of an anatomically correct nude male.)
It was interesting! Which, I think, is the primary goal of a museum.
