Art has always been a part of my life but my passion and appreciation for it has evolved. Being from St. Louis, my family goes to the Saint Louis Art Museum together almost every year. On family vacations, going to the local art museum is always on the itinerary as well. As I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate art the more I visit art museums and the more I learn about art history. My experiences abroad in Europe have taken this appreciation to the next level, though. During my first weekend trip of the semester, I realized art exhibitions were something I wanted to make sure I focused on during the rest of my travels. This first trip was to Montpellier, a small city in southern France. On my final day in the city, I visited the permanent collection in Musée Fabre. Musée Fabre was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. The museum offers an extensive collection of work from France, Italy, Spain and more, dating from the Renaissance to present day.

I hadn’t planned on spending lots of time in the museum but I ended up wandering the exhibition for almost 3 hours. Before entering the first rooms, I grabbed a pamphlet from the front desk that explained the time periods featured and the major works in each room. In each room, I took my time reading the descriptions and taking a deep look at each piece of artwork. I made sure I didn’t miss a single piece of art in the building. The three hours I spent in the museum ended up being my favorites of the entire trip. I felt like I had learned so much and I felt like I had a meditative experience reflecting on each of the works of art. When leaving Montpellier, I decided that in each of the cities I visited this semester I wanted to visit the local art museum. So far, I have stayed true to this goal. I’ve gotten to visit the Museu de Bellas Artes in Valencia, the Museu de Bellas Artes Gravina and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Alicante, and the Teatro Museu Dalí in Figueres. I have loved exploring each of these museums and the different works inside. I look forward to learning more and more through European art during my semester abroad.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: IES Abroad: Liberal Arts and Business in Barcelona