Blink and you'll see it

One of the unoriginal but mandatory things for me touring any city 
is visiting the museums.
Vienna had a particularly organized section of the city they called Museum Quarter.

As the name illustrated, 
there was a cluster of various museums all around one plaza 
with inclusive communal seating arrangements.

I first went to the Leopold Museum which houses local artists who 
I happen to be a fan of such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele

.

Self portrait of Egon Schiele

The architecture of the museum itself was just as beautiful as 

the works it was displaying.

I have to say while I like Klimt, he kind of scares me.

They recreated the room with the original furniture 

that he used as his studio.

One of his more recognizable works.

I then went to the Kuntshistoriche Museum which houses one of the best art collections in the world.  

The building itself was also monumental.

Not your typical Starbucks for a caffeine fix.

The collection includes one of the 37 Vermeer paintings in the world along with a room with an extensive Bruegel selection 
including many other masterpieces.

But have you ever had museum fatigue syndrome?

You are surrounded by priceless works of art and yet...

A Holbein just looks like any other...

 Dutch Masters all seem to paint the same damn window 
over and over again...

 Velazquez has painted yet another member of the Spanish royal family...I mean, they all look alike anyway!

Paintings that you would kill to have in your home 

are now glanced at for barely a few seconds...

Sometimes art imitates life and vice versa.

The painting by Hans Jordaens as explained below.

But I don't come to Vienna every week so 
I try to soak it all in.

I'm walking around inside the museum and the extent of of prodigious works overwhelms me.

And I walk into another huge room, a couple of paintings from across the room pique my interest and I am inexplicably drawn to them even though it is another generic scene from either 
the Bible or a Greek myth.

I looked to see who the painter was and lo and behold 

it was one of my favorite artists Caravaggio.

David with the Head of Goliath

I am not fanatical about him and haven't studied him formally which is why I didn't even know that they were by him.

But have you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell?

The premise is that sometimes conclusions and sentiments are instant and things reverberate both intellectually and emotionally.

The Crowning with Thorns

This was one of my blink moments.

It made me realize that I must trust my gut instinct and sometimes we are not all lemmings to the advertising industry.

 I like that, albeit unrequited, 

my connection with Caravaggio wasn't just a theoretical supposition but his amazing talent was validated by this little incident.

Now I just have to harness this at an auction house and buy a trinket for ten quid and it end up being a Ming vase!