It took a long time for me to have my first real art experience. It happened when I saw Paul Klee’s 1928 abstract painting “Howling Dog” on a college road trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, in 1983, and became mesmerized … read the rest here …
I have never seen that painting before. I really like it. I don’t think my memory of my first experience like this is as sharp as yours. I first recall being really affected by a piece on a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago when I was a resident. I so loved Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water that I started using it in Grand Rounds presentations, much to the sarcastic delight of my residency-mates: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/56905/nocturne-blue-and-gold-southampton-water?is_public_domain=1.