childe hassam

ok, so the new yorker had a piece about childe hassamand the retrospective of his art at the met in nyc.......much as i do not like the yankees.......i do like the art that one can see in their hometown......my friend betty p. went to see this retrospective as a 50th birthday present from her spouse..........how thoughtful.........i like childe hassam for the colors he chooses.......the picture featured in the new yorker......a view of gloucester harbor....has identical hues to a van gogh poster that is framed by my front door......of a blooming tree in a fenced yard.......we bought it on our honeymoon...at the van gogh museum in amsterdam.......having toured the heineken brewery first.....including the 3, i repeat 3 free mugs of beer.......we then stumbled over to watch vincent go mad, at least by testimony of his paintings.......which are arranged in chronological order......the good news it that i picked out a lovely poster despite my level of drunkenness..........which brings me to the childe hassam piece......i think it would be lovely in my imaginary paris apartment....the one that i will buy when gail and i win the lottery.....a nice bit of irony.....an american impressionist in paris.....with my departure looming, gail and i have decided that we really need to win soon.....but again, back to childe......i appreciate the comparisons made between him and monet......and having seen so many more monets......or at least monets so many more times.....i may just appreciate hassam for his enthusiasm......one expects it of a french painter.....but not necessarily of an american one........the gloucester harbor just reeks of enthusiasm......and optimism......it is a happy, contented picture......and certainly underappreciated...........one of my favorite movies...the thomas crown affair......(yes, i do watch it to hear the name mr.crown spoken so often........, and i do actually have a cousin called thomas crown......he buys hops for anheiser-busch in st. louis).....focuses on the theft of a painting by monet........and much if made of this painting........which looks very much like impression: sunset....now back at le marmatton........thomas crown comes frequently to the museum to look at a painting of haystacks......which is also by monet.....though the painter is never named...and the security guard frequently alludes to the impression:sunset painting like it is the only monet in the room........an inside joke for monet lovers.....don't get me wrong...i am a monet groupie just like everybody else...i have traveled to giverny no fewer than 4 times......the first time.....i got on an express train to rouen by mistake.....and the train did not stop at giverny.....and i had to wander the streets over the lunch break until the next train back....i had a lovely lunch looking at the cathedral in rouen...the one monet painted in a series of impressions...at many times of day....to the point that it looks eerily different in each one......i have visited impression:sunset......before, during, and after it's theft from le marmatton........i have visited l'orangerie whenever it happens to be open...to see the breathtaking wall-size waterlily ponds.......in january the entire building was gutted to the point that one could see through it......no idea if the waterlilies are there, in the basement....or elsewhere......i saw a lovely retrospective of monet's series painting in bosotn at the fine arts museum......a long while back it seems........maybe i need to make childe hassam pilgrimages from now on.....would not that be the patriotic thing to do.....now, just where is gloucester?................