Art. In Cleveland.

I am an art lover.  I love walking through museums and having almost religious experiences when viewing exceptional works of art.  Certain paintings and sculpture have brought me to tears.  I love art.
Having grown up with a mom who studied art history, I would like to think that I'm a bit versed in fine art.  I at least have an understanding of various artists, movements, and styles.  After living in Cleveland for 3 years, I finally visited the Cleveland Museum of Art this past Saturday.
It. Was. Phenomenal.
I admit, I wasn't expecting much.  I figured that there would be perhaps a few good examples of certain movements and a few "important" pieces.  I was extraordinarily wrong.  Not only did the museum have phenomenal pieces by well-known artists, it had AMAZING examples of certain artists' individual periods; and great example pieces of certain movements.  My parents and I walked through the museum in my normal, preferred method: contemporary --> backwards in time.
Each period was amazingly curated, as seen from these examples from the museum.

Van Gogh's The Large Plane Trees (Road Meanders at Saint-Remy)

La Vie from Picasso's Blue Period:  Such a great example of Picasso's blue period AND only one of many Picasso pieces that the museum has.  Each piece clearly depicts the various periods of Picasso's life- from early, to blue, to cubism, and beyond.  Simply Marvelous.

The Dream by Dali- I usually don't like Dali works- they get a bit too surreal and weird for me, BUT this piece is soo Dali and, in my opinion, such a perfect representation of a "great" Dali work.

I urge anyone who live in Cleveland, or who passes through, to visit the museum.  Honestly, this museum is better curated than many of the museums I've been to (including those in Europe).  It's a MUST!