Missing Masterpieces WebQuest

Arti S. Tolen's Secret Notes!

(or How I Hid Mrs. Hightower's Paintings)

Travel Log

I flew from Boston, arriving in the London airport. While traveling, I planned out how I would obtain the floor plans for the museum. I began my journey at the National Gallery London. Then I searched for a place to hide the ballerinas.

I traveled from London to Paris, France. It was difficult to navigate the city and the museum, The Louvre, without knowing any French. But I finally figured out how to sneak into the museum. I found the location of "the permanent collection", then obtained a copy of the floor plan. I decided to hide a beautiful and mysterious lady in the museum.

Next, I found myself in the Netherlands (which, by the way, is also called Holland). Holland has many famous artists, but van Gogh is probably the most well-known. There is a museum which is quite famous for its architecture. I was able to locate a floor plan after visiting a place that explained how the building was designed. I decided to hide a painting of autumn colors in this museum.

I felt Holland was very cold, so I needed to travel to a sunny location! I found a great climate when I traveled to Spain. There I found a museum built by the Guggenheim family, who are from the United States. Apparently, they loved art so much they built a museum in Spain (as well as many other cities in the world). I learned that a famous American architect designed the building, and that a floor plan was available that described the building. The name of the museum is the Metropolitan-Bilbao Guggenheim.

I enjoyed the warm climate so much, I traveled to another sunny country in Europe. I avoided the capital city, instead choosing to visit Florence. The country is shaped like a boot as seen on all the maps. I hide a painting inside a museum called the Uffizi Gallery. It is a great hiding place for another one of those beautiful women from the sea.

I found an airport in Florence, and boarded a plane to California, where the sun was shining down on the city of Los Angeles. I made my plan to sneak into the Getty Museum.

I needed to locate a map to find a perfect hiding place. I did not have much success, in Los Angeles, finding a good hiding place for a painting. But I did find a great place to look for all the vocabulary definitions of the art and architecture terms that I will want to use in order to fool people. Trying to convince everyone that I know all of the styles of painting will be an easy task with the help of this resource. Now I know many interesting facts about styles of painting and art media! I must return to the Getty Museum to locate that valuable art thesaurus.

I flew to the capital city of the United States, and discover that there are many great locations to hide several paintings. In the National Gallery of Art, there are many great hiding places for paintings with "impressions" of children. I hide two paintings in the capital city.

I fly north to a city called "The Big Apple" and discover two museums, The Museum of Modern Art and the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which both offer great hiding places for several of the paintings. It was a bit difficult to find my way through the museums because no maps were available. But my notes were very helpful. I found myself thinking of water and decided to hide three paintings, two of which have water themes! (Remember I am clever, so read all my notes carefully, but never trust a thief!)

I realized that I made a huge mistake - I forgot to fly to Asia before returning to the United States. I wanted to hide one of the paintings in the former U.S.S.R. I realized that my travel route was not planned as efficiently as it could have been.

I forgot that I was traveling to a much colder country, since I had been in the lovely, warm climates of Spain, Italy, and California. I was very cold, and without a heavy coat, in this cold country. But I was able to sneak into The Hermitage Museum. Luckily for me, the floor plans that I needed were easily available. There was also a 360° virtual-tour of each gallery, which was a thrill to experience! This was the perfect place to hide the last painting.

At the end of my journey, I realized that I had forgotten some of the painting styles. I decided to refresh my memory, and clicked here, to learn about various painting styles used by many artists.

Paintings That Were Stolen From Mrs. Hightower