Looking @ paintings

We went to the de Young museum last night to catch the tail end of the impressionist show.  I'm always pleasantly surprised by the pleasures of looking at paintings. It was our second visit to the show.  Many of the paintings I'd  seen as a child the last time the impressionist show came to  san francisco. The portrait of alfred sisley with the cigar and the woman in the bath-- small paintings, like dumplings containing a rich little world.  I enjoyed seeing Gustav Moreau's Beauty and the Beast. In reproduction his paintings always appear complicated and detailed but in person its fun to see how he pulls off his illusions. (Looks like he builds up transparent washes and then tops it of with embroidery -like details).  A good show always makes me want to run to my non-existant studio and paint something