Hue Wish!: Strand Book Store and the MoMA

The next day in New York, a few of us travelled to Soho to visit a book shop named Strand. It was one of the biggest book shops I've ever seen! Shelves and shelves of books (mainly to relating to art and literature).

The top floor shelved books that were very old and looked as though they couldn't be touched without authorisation (and a pair of gloves!)

There were a few books filled with controversial imagery I noticed. I decided to purchase a book by David Shrigley, seeing as I'd made visit to his exhibition in Manchester, back in the UK. I also bought a 1984 t-shirt.

After the book shop, my friends and I explored the city. We were leaving the next day, so we left the best till last. We went into central Manhattan to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This place was absolutely huge! It consisted of six floors, each spanning a very large width containing classic pieces of artwork. The likes of Monet, Gorky, Picasso and van Gogh had their paintings displayed in here so we were in for a real treat.

Seeing the paintings up close for the first time after seeing them previously reproduced on our TV and computer screens made the whole experience a lot more eye-catching. It was like looking through a maze of white washed walls and spotting famous brand logos. The aura each painting emitted was indeed very strong as they contained world-renowned contexts, such as the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo which were saddening due to the way she felt as she painted them.

I was starstruck almost when I saw van Gogh's post-impressionist paintings. I never realised properly how vibrant the colours were and within the context of him, a painting like that was incredibly original for its time. There was a real sense of privilege from viewing these masterpieces.