D-town Adventure, Or: Culture up in the 313

I recently made a trip to the Detroit Institute of Art, and let me tell you something...it's the tits. It's being renovated so the entire collection wasn't up, just the "greatest hits" and they were amazing. The DIA has the fourth largest collection in the country, and the thrid largest collection of American artists in the world...or so I'm told. William Randolph Hearst donated a ton of old armor and sabres and the like back in the day, which is all cheesy and in poor taste, much as one should expect from WRH. Other than that the collection of Flemish masters and Romantic landscapes--they must have more Hudson Valley painters than the actual Hudson Valley--is unrivaled by anything I've ever seen. No wonder the Rembrandt exhibition I saw in Boston a year-and-a-half ago had a sizeble chunk of pieces on loan from the DIA. And giant Renaissance canvasses from Titian, Bellini, Gentileschi? Oh, you bet your ass--they got 'em in spades. The center piece of the entire place (literally) is the Rivera Court, an entire enclosed courtyard completely covered in murals painted there by the only muralist anyone has ever heard of (and among the most interesting people ever), Diego Rivera. It's breath taking, and it perfectly captures the tone and story of the city--which makes sense since it is entitled Detroit Industry.



Man, those commies can mural.

On the way home I got lost around Woodward and 8 Mile Road, just like in the movies (only without a maudlin yet affecting performance by Kim Basinger).