Me, the boy and Rene Magritte

At the weekend, Daddy-Ebi had an Aikido thing so Ebi-kun and I decided to go and do our own thing. I had a look online and there was a Star Wars Exhibition and a Rene Magritte one. So I asked the boy, which one he wanted to go to, of course he said Magritte!

We left home and travelled in with Daddy-ebi but then he went on his way and we headed into Roppongi, to the National Art Centre. I was glad we had got there early because when we came out the queues just for the tickets were miles long!

The exhibition is great, we are so lucky having world class exhibits so close by. Ebi-kun has seen far more exceptional art by the age of 9 then I had at his age, in fact, I don't remember going to an art gallery until I went to art school! 

Like I suggest in my book "The Gallery And Museum Survival Guide" I put a quiz together before we left. I wish galleries would think ahead and actually make these for the kids, it take next to no time and makes a HUGE difference to the child's experience.

Anyway, we both enjoyed the show, Ebi-kun can now confidently draw parallels to Dali, Picasso and Monet, animatedly talks about how how one influences the other and the conclusions he draws from that. It's not just about the art, when the exhibition is focused on one specific artist, he can now see that the stages of the artist's life are influences to the work, how Margittes work got very dark around the time of World War II for example. And knowing the artist's struggles and hardships is inspiring for him too. I do wish I could introduce music in the same way, but I have neither the passion nor the knowledge to do so!

We couldn't take photos in the exhibit but the National Art Centre is an interesting building in itself...

Then we headed down to Roppongi Mid Town and discovered Godzilla...

I love that there are so many weird and wonderful things around in Tokyo. We had a look around the "posh" shops and I asked Ebi-kun to compare the difference to our local mall. It was interesting to listen to his observations.

Taking time out to stop and really see what is around us is important and I really want Ebi-kun to do that too. Like spotting the rainbows on the roof...