OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation

Getty’s podcast for kids and their families, If Objects Could Talk, is back for season 2! 

Listen as art leaves the museum vault and comes alive to share its own story. In this season, featuring objects from Getty's sculpture and decorative arts collection, each episode introduces listeners to the history, creation, and everyday use of incredible items like a rococo microscope, an inventive clock, and a majestic horse sculpture. 

Today, we’re sharing our episode on Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s sculpture, The Vexed Man. Learn about sculpting alabaster, the Viennese Prater amusement park, and how to relax when you’re feeling particularly vexed. 

To hear the rest of the series and learn more, visit us at www.getty.edu/ioct or look for If Objects Could Talk on your favorite podcast app. Subscribe to catch new episodes and bonus content! And if you enjoy the show, leave us a rating and review to help others find it!

Ballet may look effortless and beautiful to audiences, but the experience for dancers can be quite different.

In this final episode of the season, host Lilit Sadoyan speaks with New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas about Edgar Degas’s pastel Waiting. In a wide-ranging conversation, the two discuss dancers’ experiences behind the scenes, how Kourlas approaches writing, and what makes a great experience at the theater.

If you missed this week’s patience meditation inspired by Degas’s pastel, look for it on your podcast player or find it on our website.

You can watch this episode on YouTube here: https://gty.art/4wZysOS

Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/deeper-dive-dance-critic-less-glamorous-ballet/

See the painting in person at the Norton Simon: https://www.nortonsimon.org/

This is the last episode in season 1! Subscribe to be sure you catch updates from us while we're on break.


Production team:
Host: Lilit Sadoyan
Producers: Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower
Video Editor: Jeremy Rhodes
Mixer and Sound Designer: Jaime Roque
Executive Producer: Christopher Sprinkle

For more art history insights, check out our other Getty Podcasts shows at www.getty.edu/podcasts
Recording Artists tells artist biographies using archival material from the Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recording-artists/
If Objects Could Talk is a family-friendly show where Getty museum objects, like a Greek vase or porcelain clock, come alive to share their story: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/
ReCurrent chronicles the people who shape our culture and keep the past alive: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recurrent/
Art + Ideas showcases interviews with artists, architects, scientists, and cultural luminaries by former Getty President Jim Cuno: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/

Through its programs—Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust—Getty shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage, both in Los Angeles and throughout the world. 
Learn more about all we do for art on our website:
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/

How does your body feel when you wait? Slow down and explore your body’s experience of patience (and impatience) inspired by Edgar Degas’s enigmatic pastel drawing Waiting (about 1882).

A dancer and an accompanying figure sit on a bench, their bodies bent forward in a state of fatigue. Rendered in pastel, with vivid streaks of color and variations in technique, Degas masterfully animates a scene that is otherwise still.

This scene raises more questions than it answers: how are the two figures related? Where are they? And what exactly are they waiting for? There are no obvious answers, and yet the emotions and exhaustion here are palpable.

In this final meditation of the season, we explore the sensations of patience—physically and emotionally—in an exercise that invites you to breathe, reflect, and recover as you wait.

This podcast uses chapters. If you'd like to jump straight to the meditation, find the forth chapter.

You can watch this episode on YouTube here: https://gty.art/4wZysOS

Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/patience-meditation-degas-dancer/

To see this work in person, visit the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

What does a New York Times dance critic think about Degas and patience? Find a conversation with Gia Kourlas in your podcast feed or on our YouTube channel Thursday, or find it on our website. Find it in your podcast feed or on our YouTube channel Thursday, or find it on our website.

Production team:
Host: Lilit Sadoyan
Producers: Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower
Video Editor: Jeremy Rhodes
Mixer and Sound Designer: Jaime Roque
Executive Producer: Christopher Sprinkle

For more art history insights, check out our other Getty Podcasts shows at www.getty.edu/podcasts
Recording Artists tells artist biographies using archival material from the Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recording-artists/
If Objects Could Talk is a family-friendly show where Getty museum objects, like a Greek vase or porcelain clock, come alive to share their story: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/
ReCurrent chronicles the people who shape our culture and keep the past alive: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recurrent/
Art + Ideas showcases interviews with artists, architects, scientists, and cultural luminaries by former Getty President Jim Cuno: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/

Through its programs—Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust—Getty shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage, both in Los Angeles and throughout the world. 
Learn more about all we do for art on our website:
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/

Extreme facial expressions are the first thing many notice when they see a haka performance.

It’s the same thing that people tend to notice with Getty’s sculpture of The Vexed Man, too. Haka is a traditional war dance of the Māori people, indigenous to New Zealand, and is now used in a wide range of ceremonies and sports events. In conversation with Lilit Sadoyan, Māori cultural practitioner and choreographer Amelia Butler explains the symbolic meaning of haka’s elements and how it can allow access to one’s deepest self.

Butler is founder and CEO of Learn Maori Abroad.

If you missed this week’s progressive muscle relaxation exercise inspired by The Vexed Man, look for it on your podcast player or find it on our website.

You can watch this episode on YouTube here: https://gty.art/4wZysOS

Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/deeper-dive-maori-haka-deep-emotions/

Subscribe to OMMM be the first to hear new episodes.

Production team:
Host: Lilit Sadoyan
Producers: Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower
Video Editor: Jeremy Rhodes
Mixer and Sound Designer: Jaime Roque
Executive Producer: Christopher Sprinkle

For more art history insights, check out our other Getty Podcasts shows at www.getty.edu/podcasts
Recording Artists tells artist biographies using archival material from the Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recording-artists/
If Objects Could Talk is a family-friendly show where Getty museum objects, like a Greek vase or porcelain clock, come alive to share their story: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/
ReCurrent chronicles the people who shape our culture and keep the past alive: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recurrent/
Art + Ideas showcases interviews with artists, architects, scientists, and cultural luminaries by former Getty President Jim Cuno: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/

Through its programs—Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust—Getty shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage, both in Los Angeles and throughout the world. 
Learn more about all we do for art on our website:
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/

Explore how deeply you can relax—by tensing each muscle in your body. This unusual exercise builds on Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s The Vexed Man (1771–83), a sculpture of a man with an exaggerated facial expression.

From the protruding veins in the neck to the deeply furrowed brow, this alabaster sculpture captures the vexed expression of a middle-aged man. Part of a series of 49 sculptures created by Messerschmidt during the last 13 years of his life, each bust depicts a different, often extreme, emotion.

During the Enlightenment, when this sculpture was made, there was a growing fascination with the human condition and many sought to understand it. Studying the face, as Messerschmidt did with this series, was one approach.

It is human instinct to respond to facial expressions; particularly when assessing danger, trust, pain, or pleasure. Bring awareness to the intricacy and subtlety of your own muscle movements through this guided progressive muscle relaxation (PMR).

PMR is not recommended if a person has a history of serious injuries, muscle spasms, or back problems, as the deliberate tensing of muscles could exacerbate any of these pre-existing conditions. Please consult with your doctor before practicing this meditation if you have concerns.

See the painting in person at the Getty Center and learn more about this work on the collection page.

This podcast uses chapters. If you'd like to jump straight to the meditation, find the fifth chapter.

You can watch this episode on YouTube here: https://gty.art/4wZysOS

Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/progressive-muscle-relaxation-exercise-vexed-man/

See the painting in person at the Getty Center: https://www.getty.edu/visit/

How does Māori haka channel strong emotion? Māori cultural practitioner Amelia Butler explains in this week's Deeper Dive. Find it in your podcast feed, our YouTube channel, or on our website this Thursday.

Production team:
Host: Lilit Sadoyan
Producers: Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower
Video Editor: Jeremy Rhodes
Mixer and Sound Designer: Jaime Roque
Executive Producer: Christopher Sprinkle

For more art history insights, check out our other Getty Podcasts shows at www.getty.edu/podcasts
Recording Artists tells artist biographies using archival material from the Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recording-artists/
If Objects Could Talk is a family-friendly show where Getty museum objects, like a Greek vase or porcelain clock, come alive to share their story: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/
ReCurrent chronicles the people who shape our culture and keep the past alive: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recurrent/
Art + Ideas showcases interviews with artists, architects, scientists, and cultural luminaries by former Getty President Jim Cuno: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/

Through its programs—Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Foundation, Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and Getty Trust—Getty shares and advances the world’s visual art and cultural heritage, both in Los Angeles and throughout the world. 
Learn more about all we do for art on our website:
Getty: https://www.getty.edu/
Getty Conservation Institute: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/
Getty Foundation: https://www.getty.edu/foundation/
Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/museum/
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/