Favorites from the San Diego Museum of Art, part 2

Specter of the Evening, Salvador Dali, 1930; Dali developed a fascination with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories, and the dreamlike juxtaposition of unreal or unexpected objects would remain a recurring motif in his art

The Blue-Eyed Boy, Amedeo Modigliani, 1916; the museum has an adjacent sculpture garden that was closed with a wedding when I visited; another must see at Balboa Park is the zoo but I've already been many times

Woman, Bird, Constellations, Joan Miro, 1974; the museum did a very good job of ensuring diversity of artists, regions and methods; there were exhibits of art from Iran and another with works from Mali that didn't appeal to me

Notre Dame, Maximilien Luce, ca. 1900; by now you know how much I love the Pointillists so this classic Parisian scene was one of my favorite works at the museum

La Jolla Cove, Alfred Richard Mitchell, ca. 1950; what struck me about this painting is the lack of development and pristine natural environment that has been erased by urbanization today

Village Near a Field, Diego Rivera, 1919; from the age of 10, Rivera studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City; at 21, he travelled to Europe where he took up the new Cubist style of painting

Francis North, 4th Earl of Guilford, George Romney, 1788; Greensboro is located in Guilford County which was named in honor of Francis North, the 1st Earl of Guilford or the great grandfather of this young man

Allegory of Eternity: The Succession of the Popes, Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1622-25; this work was for a series of 20 Belgian tapestries called the Triumph of the Eucharist that has been called the greatest artist commission of that century

The Rialto Bridge, Francesco Guardi, ca. 1770-75; the third of the great Venetian view-painters (after Canaletto and Bellotto), Guardi's cityscapes are marked by freer brushwork and often more forbidding atmospheres

View of the Wetterhorn from the Valley of Grindelwald, Albert Bierstadt, undated; the ascent of the Wetterhorn in the mid 19th century sparked interest in the Swiss Alps among the general public and inspired many leading landscape artists

Pirna Seen from the Right Side of the Elbe, Bernardo Bellotto, ca. 1756; Pirna today is a town of 37,000 to the SE of Dresden in Germany; from 1747 to 1758 Bellotto lived in Dresden, following an invitation from King Augustus III of Poland

Merganser, William Michael Harnett, 1883; the technical skill in this work was impressive as I swore from across the room that this was a three dimensional work; a Munich businessman commissioned this painting of a dead duck

The Timken Museum of Art next door was closed for renovations when I visited but has since reopened; it is known for its collection of European old masters, American art and Russian icons as well as being the only museum with free admission in Balboa Park