I can still remember the first time I saw an actual painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was 1976-ish during a trip to New York City to visit a friend who was attending Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn. It was my first trip to the City and I made sure the Metropolitan Museum of Art was part of the itinerary, which also included McSorley’s Old Ale House and a few clubs in Greenwich Village, but I digress ...

Throughout my life there have been moments after an experience when the little voice in my head said “You will never forget this.” Has that happened to you? Anyway, back to the Met. “Vase With 12 Sunflowers” (with that gorgeous blue background) was the first painting at the beginning of a new wall of paintings. When I stood before it, mere inches between myself and the canvas, his canvas … I lost myself in the brushwork, mouth open and tears falling from my eyes … As I write this I have returned to that moment, a moment that forever touched my soul – much as the art and the painter himself ...

The background is as fascinating as the sunflowers in various late stages of their bloom; I’ve always wondered what – or how many – painting(s) are underneath the flowers … how many works were never seen because he couldn’t afford the cost of canvas … or because when he was “in the zone” he reached for whatever was nearby to paint on!

Eventually I moved on … that day at the Met. I have almost made it through that entire museum. It’s so easy to lose yourself in so divine a place as an art museum! But, let’s face it; some of us can’t travel to New York City or Chicago, D.C. whenever we wish let alone travel to some of the world’s most visited … like The Louvre, the National Gallery, the Van Gogh, the Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago … the list goes on … and on ...

So, what a thrill to learn the Harbor Theater will be playing Exhibition on Screen (EOS) beginning this Friday with Degas! Yes, it sounds familiar because the series has been playing in Damariscotta at the Lincoln Theater for years.

As Friends of the Harbor Theater board director Helen Meserve explained in the press release out this week, EOS not only produces world class films of outstanding cinematic quality, leading historians and art critics offer insights into the art and the artists.

The season starts with the film: “Degas, Passion for Perfection” on Friday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. We will see rare and diverse works of Edgar Degas, his “method,” and hear about him through the letters of friends and others written by the French master himself.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the name Degas, the images of his ballet dancers surface in my mind’s eye – imagine!

Travel. Art. No passport required! And … popcorn - that yummy Harbor Theater popcorn … who could ask for more?

All screenings will be Fridays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for members, except in the month of December. Screenings resume in January 2019 with Monet in January, Picasso, Cezanne, Rembrandt and skipping May, end with Van Gogh in June.

For more information, visit www.boothbaycinema.org