It's not always sunny in Philadelphia, but it is pretty swimming there, 24/7. While running through the Barnes Foundation, trying to at least look at the artwork I no longer had time to admire, I was thinking how I could not believe I was in North America, because never before was I so impressed with the art collection at a given American (much less Canadian) museum. Spending an hour and a half in the Rodin Museum before that was a great start: the museum is only one room, basically, but has a superb audio-guide with informative bits on almost every sculpture on display, including the striking Gates of Hell and the Thinker (the original!), so I couldn't leave without listening to them all.
And it only got better the next day, when the Philadelphia Museum of Art opened. Much, much better. Van Gogh was really just the cherry on top of the magnificent Impressionist cake, Monet, Pissarro and Renoir especially. Speaking of Renoir, he was also heavily featured in the Barnes Foundation along with Cézanne, quite literally, since they hang side by side there, in every room. Where the Barnes Foundation impressed me with Modigliani, the PMA had Schiele, Klimt and even Ayvazovsky, Degas, Miró... Indescribable aesthetic pleasure all day, every day.
