Day at the Museum

A Day at the Museum

By the time he was nine years old, Marco knew that he wanted to be an artist because he loved to draw pictures. His mother decided to postpone their trip to an art museum until her brother could come visit from Bern. A few days later, Marco's uncle arrived at the airport. Even though he was tired and could not tolerate such a long flight, he was delighted to hear about the planned museum trip. Uncle Ezio worked as a theatrical producer in Bern and enjoyed doing almost anything relating to the fine arts, so he was glad that his sister put off the trip until he could be there.

Marco was really excited about the museum. His mother could hardly keep up with him as they walked through the building, but once Marco saw the Picasso exhibit, he stopped and studied the paintings that Picasso had done. Those paintings were unlike any others he had seen. Marco was amazed! Ezio thought that Marco should learn more about the master artists, so he talked to the curator and got some brochures and an event calendar. The curator had several short lectures scheduled for the current exhibits, so Ezio and Marco signed up for the Picasso and Dali lectures. After dinner that evening, Marco read the brochures. He was impressed with the way Dali painted the melting watches, and marvelled at da Vinci's drawings. Marco realized that before he could become a famous artist, he had to learn how to draw and paint like the masters. He begged his mother to buy him some art pencils and some paints. While Marco worked hard to develop his skill with the pencils, Ezio began teaching him how to use the paints. Marco soon learned that it was a lot more difficult to do shading and lighting (and almost everything else!) with the paints than with the pencils. Ezio could see that Marco was getting discouraged with painting, and reminded him that it would take a lot of time and patience to be a good painter. Marco started to dislike painting until Ezio laughed and told him that it took him almost twenty years to learn how to paint well enough to do the theater backdrops back in Bern. In the meantime, his mother stopped by a used bookstore and bought Marco a few books. As soon as he saw the books, he was elated. He shouted that maybe then he could be a famous artist and go work with Uncle Ezio. He would love to work with him!