I went up to see the special show at the Everson Museum today -

[hedgehog]

a group of roughly 50 paintings by Turner, Daumier, Renoir, Whistler, Morisot, Manet etc. These were good second tier paintings; not the most famous by each artist but good examples of their work. Here's what I found interesting: some of the paintings seem to have been meant for someone standing 10 to 20 feet away. For example, I've often seen photos of Whistler's nocturnes, and the example here wasn't very impressive when I first looked at it. I turned back to look at it again after I walked away, and suddenly I got it! You can't get that from a copy in a book.