Between the museum stakeouts and art class at school, I have a lot of art going on in my life. The police send me to Museum Mile, also known as Fifth Avenue in New York City. There are around eleven museums grouped together, some of them the most famous in the world. 

First stop, The Jewish Museum. Don’t ask me why the police sent me there, but I did get to learn a lot of cool things. Did you know that the authors of Curious George were German Jews who fled Europe during WWII? Or that Harry Houdini, the famous escape artist, was a Jew born in Hungary with the name Ehric Weiss? I didn’t meet any famous people at the museum. Mostly I just sketched pictures of menorahs and stared at the crowds, wondering when a thief was going to show up.

Next stop, The Neue Galerie (which means “New Gallery” in German). The head bad guy we’re chasing is German, so this museum makes sense.

I have a small “incident” on the fancy staircase there during a stakeout, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Last but not least on the museum tour, The Guggenheim. Check out how huge and über-cool this museum is. It’s filled with art from the 19th-21st centuries from all over the world!

First up on the art portion of the tour: Monet!

Founder of the French Impressionist painting movement, he lived from 1840-1926. He’s most famous for his nature scenes. Soothing to look at, right?

A Russian artist who lived from 1866-1944, he’s the pioneer of abstract art.

The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso is a huge part of my first adventure. Why is he so important and why is his art so valuable? (Some of his paintings are worth $150 MILLION!!)

Picasso is one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. As a boy, he was painting masterpieces by the age of sixteen, works of art that most artists never achieve in a lifetime. He moved on quickly from the classic style to new, invented styles, breaking through the molds of the past. One of my favorite periods of his, “The Blue Period” was from 1901-1904. As the name suggests, he painted in blues.

From 1909-1912, he began the artistic movement known as cubism, where the artist breaks the subject down into shapes.

Picasso lived a long time (1881 – 1973) and he produced a TON of art work. His art can be found all over the world. Not only did he paint, but he did sculptures too. Here is a sculpture in Chicago.

Thanks for joining me on my art tour- feel free to ask me any questions about my adventures and I’ll write you back!