My mood has lifted a lot since last night. I´m still not a big fan of Barcelona, despite its considerable assets, but I think I´ve processed the mugging enough to be able to learn from it and continue the trip in a good frame of mind.
Just like yesterday, this morning I was fairly unmotivated to get out and see the city, but I did manage to get to the Picasso Museum, and I loved it. I wish that I had been able to access better commentary or background materials on the works either as part of the exhibit or reading material ahead of the visit, though. Unfortunately, there was no audio tour, the guided tour was full, and the summary points printed on the walls were not very illuminating or extensive. In fact, in the first room, which displayed his earliest works, the commentary beside the pictures listed the date of the picture but nowhere in the room, including in the main bio piece, did it list the year of Picasso´s birth (1881). I was looking at all these paintings from 1895 wondering whether he had executed them at eighteen? Fifteen? Twelve? I looked all over the room and couldn´t find the answer. Eventually I found a biographical timeline stenciled onto the wall farther down the hall, but the information would have been helpful sooner. However, even a mediocre job curating the collection didn´t damage its impact.
What I loved most about the exhibit was that the museum had acquired almost 60 paintings that Picasso had done based on a classic Diego Velazquez painting (which I saw in the Prado last week! and which you can read about hereÑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas). Just outside the rooms where these works were hanging, the museum was presenting video loop showing the Velazquez piece, with the camera slowly zooming to an individual figure. Then an animated brushstroke of Picasso´s painting would appear over the figure, tracing its outline, and then another and another and another until Picasso´s interpretation of the scene was superimposed over Velazquez´s. Picasso was in his cubism period by then, so his figures were abstract, but in this context, it was easy to discern all of the outlines and planes that Picasso was drawing attention to. What might otherwise have seemed like a tangle of random shapes in this context took on form and meaning, and the allusions became unmistakable. After watching (I think) all 58 paintings drawn over the original Vazquez, it was pretty cool to examine them one by one in person and see how they were manipulating the original: changes in light and angles, figures rearranged, color choices altered. I suppose my being able to do that is a triumph of curating, come to think of it, so I take back what I said about mediocre curating!!! And if you´re curious to see the Picassos, you can Google ¨Picasso Las Meninas¨ and the results will give you a good idea of what I´m talking about.
I´m glad I got motivated enough to go to the museum, and it was a perfect activity for a rainy, chilly day. Tomorrow morning I hop a bus to Madrid and then I take the commuter train to Toledo (it´s only about a half hour by train). I don´t know much about Toledo yet, other than the fact that it hosts a World Heritage Site, but I´m sure I´ll learn lots about it over the next few two days! :) Oh, and hopefully I´ll be able to share some good pictures from the new camera tomorrow.
Just like yesterday, this morning I was fairly unmotivated to get out and see the city, but I did manage to get to the Picasso Museum, and I loved it. I wish that I had been able to access better commentary or background materials on the works either as part of the exhibit or reading material ahead of the visit, though. Unfortunately, there was no audio tour, the guided tour was full, and the summary points printed on the walls were not very illuminating or extensive. In fact, in the first room, which displayed his earliest works, the commentary beside the pictures listed the date of the picture but nowhere in the room, including in the main bio piece, did it list the year of Picasso´s birth (1881). I was looking at all these paintings from 1895 wondering whether he had executed them at eighteen? Fifteen? Twelve? I looked all over the room and couldn´t find the answer. Eventually I found a biographical timeline stenciled onto the wall farther down the hall, but the information would have been helpful sooner. However, even a mediocre job curating the collection didn´t damage its impact.
What I loved most about the exhibit was that the museum had acquired almost 60 paintings that Picasso had done based on a classic Diego Velazquez painting (which I saw in the Prado last week! and which you can read about hereÑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas). Just outside the rooms where these works were hanging, the museum was presenting video loop showing the Velazquez piece, with the camera slowly zooming to an individual figure. Then an animated brushstroke of Picasso´s painting would appear over the figure, tracing its outline, and then another and another and another until Picasso´s interpretation of the scene was superimposed over Velazquez´s. Picasso was in his cubism period by then, so his figures were abstract, but in this context, it was easy to discern all of the outlines and planes that Picasso was drawing attention to. What might otherwise have seemed like a tangle of random shapes in this context took on form and meaning, and the allusions became unmistakable. After watching (I think) all 58 paintings drawn over the original Vazquez, it was pretty cool to examine them one by one in person and see how they were manipulating the original: changes in light and angles, figures rearranged, color choices altered. I suppose my being able to do that is a triumph of curating, come to think of it, so I take back what I said about mediocre curating!!! And if you´re curious to see the Picassos, you can Google ¨Picasso Las Meninas¨ and the results will give you a good idea of what I´m talking about.
I´m glad I got motivated enough to go to the museum, and it was a perfect activity for a rainy, chilly day. Tomorrow morning I hop a bus to Madrid and then I take the commuter train to Toledo (it´s only about a half hour by train). I don´t know much about Toledo yet, other than the fact that it hosts a World Heritage Site, but I´m sure I´ll learn lots about it over the next few two days! :) Oh, and hopefully I´ll be able to share some good pictures from the new camera tomorrow.
Ooooh! I googled as you suggested and, far out! I adore Velazquez and studied Las Meninas and all its symbolism. Would so love to have seen that overlay video. So interesting to see how Picasso's classical training influenced his cubism. Good for you for searching out such a unique experience!
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