Personal Narrative: My Trip To The St. Louis Art Museum

On the evening of Friday, March 24, I had the pleasure of going to the St. Louis Art Museum. I was accompanied by my cousin and her boyfriend, as they were visiting St. Louis for the weekend and wanted something fun to do. It was a lovely experience, and when I walked in I was taken back by the many rooms full of amazing and beautiful artwork. I was immediately drawn to the Renaissance art because that is what we have been studying and that is what I most familiar with. I wandered into rooms full of sculpture, Japanese China, ancient artwork and more. However, when I walked into the large rectangle room in the back of the museum and saw Gerhard Richter's January, December, November, occupying one whole wall. I was mesmerized. There were so many pieces of art that …show more content…
January, December, November inspires thought and creativity in viewers also has a significant historical context. According to the SLAM website, the time in history in which these paintings are based is when the previously divided Germany had just collapsed as a result of the Eastern German Government giving way and opening the Berlin Wall. This specifically happened in November of 1989, which is one of the canvas' titles. Although this was a positive event in German history, the purpose of Richter's paintings was to reveal a much deeper emotional and political uncertainty from these changes. The paintings aim to represent the past, the present, and the future of Germany during this time, immersed in many layers of paint (SLAM website). Based on the paintings alone, if I had to state what I believed that time in German History was like, it would be a very dark, cluttered, painful period of time. The images he creates in this piece of art are misleading as to the historical context versus how he personally felt at that