PawPaw and Nana came to visit us for Christmas.  Nana is a painter and we noticed a Gauguin exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum.  Perfect.  Sounded like a great thing to do, right?  Who doesn't like art?  We all head out for Gauguin.

You've seen the children's/infant's Baby Einstein series - toys and videos that introduce your child to culture - music, art, language...  I thought since those items are always on gift registries and everyone buys them up, kids must love them.  And what is better than a video or a book about paintings?  Art museums with the real thing, right? 

Here's what I learned yesterday: art museums do not charge admission for children under the age of 5.  Zoos charge admission for children ages 2 and up.  Know why?  They aren't going to charge you for something that a child has no interest in.  Wilson didn't care that this is the one stop on the American Gauguin tour.  He didn't care that he was seeing renowned masterpieces of paintings and sculpture.  We walked in and he was ready to leave.  Either he's not into Gauguin or he's just not into impressionists...  Maybe he's a modern art kind of three year old...

We all tried engaging him in the art:  "What colors are these flowers?"  "What kinds of animals are in this picture?" " What is your favorite piece?"  No good.  His response to everything was either "Can we go home now?" or "I need some gum."  So much for culture. 

In all the art was amazing and I think we all had a good time (at least, whomever wasn't stuck with Wilson on a bench had a good time).  Lesson here is that if you don't have to pay to get them in, it's just better to leave them at home.