We started our day walking quiet Saturday streets to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, a museum which celebrates women artists who are often ignored in other collections. It was such a delight to see Frida Kahlo’s ‘Self Portrait dedicated to Leon Trotsky’

  
There was also a very moving exhibition of works by women from Iran and the Arab world. 

 
   
 
Click on any phot for the larger version so that you can read the label.

From there we moved on to more of The Smithsonian, this time the American Arts Museum. One thing we especially love about these museums is how the visitor is encouraged to take photos, to get close to the paintings to really appreciate detail. At home we are kept away by rope barriers and an alarm sounds if you dare to get close enough to see brushstrokes. 

  This first one is Granma Moses goes to Town, with detail of the farmer in the bottom right. 

 
It was so lovely to see the tiny stitches on the tapestry by two sisters,  Lydia and Betsy Morphew in the late C19.

   
On our way to the Washington Monument the skies went black and a storm had everyone running for shelter.