Hermitage

For most of my life, I've heard about the wonders of the Hermitage, and it did not disappoint. Just the sheer number of paintings you've likely seen in reproduction and the vast number of Matisses and Gaugins is enough to blow you away. Add in a Versaille-like palace, and the experience was marred only by dragging an unappreciative five-year-old along for the ride. I feel like I could spend an entire week there, just admiring the art and architecture of the place. As Larry said, you sometime forget how art has the ability to really move you. I was moved.

I have longed loved Gaugin (we had a big one in our living room growing up), but there are so few examples of his work, that I've mostly relied on books and slides to look at them. I lost count at ten major works. Many of his works before he left for Tahiti were there as well. I just could not get over how fresh the images look, even 100 years later. The Matisse room was eye-popping as well, but there was something about being in the presence of so many Gaugins that I kept pinching myself. It's a hoot.