Pablo Picasso – Frames of Reference

The Journey Of Things

At the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich to see Magdalene Odundo’s exhibition The Journey of Things, a celebration of 45 years of her amazing hand-built pots, featuring many of her iconic vessel sculptures, and accompanied by a history, or rather a herstory, of inspirational encounters along the way – touchstones first seen at the British Museum, the Commonwealth Institute, the Museum of Mankind, the Pitt Rivers Museum, Kettle’s Yard and the Sainsbury Centre itself, to name but a few. Continue reading “The Journey Of Things”

One Last Day In Ortigia

This time last year we’d recently returned from Sicily, and two sultry weeks in Ortigia, where the balcony of our apartment looked out over the sea. We watched through our crystal ball, waiting each day for a breeze, but the sailing boats passed by inverted, the air was still and we were becalmed. Continue reading “One Last Day In Ortigia”

Noto

Noto is perhaps the most interesting of the 18th-century Baroque towns of Sicily. It was built after the earthquake of 1693 when the former town (now known as Noto Antica) was abandoned. An excellent example of 18th-century town planning, the local limestone has been burnt gold by the sun. The inhabitants call their city ‘il giardino di pietra’, the garden of stone. Continue reading “Noto”

Farley Farm House

We left the main road at Cross in Hand then down the back lanes to Chiddingly, an enchanting drive through the woods, alternately dappled with jewelled light sparkling through the leaves or dark and gloomy in sunken, narrow holloways, and always the threat of encountering oncoming traffic around the next bend of the single track road. It was an adventure even before we arrived. Continue reading “Farley Farm House”

Das Meisterstück

Das Meisterstück (The Masterpiece) is an exhibition of large format photographs of painters’ palettes by Matthias Schaller at the Refectory, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, May 8-June 7. Maybe he saw our earlier blog post, Palettes! This one is JMW Turner and it’s impossible not to see resemblances between it and his paintings. Like looking at a dog and its owner. Continue reading “Das Meisterstück”

Las Meninas

Next day, our last day in Barcelona, just as we were leaving, we visited the Museu Picasso, but it was a Monday and we should’ve known better. There was another B for Barcelona by the door but it was closed, all day. This had been our first stop three years ago on our previous visit to Barcelona, and was most memorable for Picasso’s variations on a theme by Velázquez, called Las Meninas. Continue reading “Las Meninas”

I AMsterdam

We took a half-term weekend break to Amsterdam. It seemed like the city was being relaunched and rebranded/rembrandted. The Rijksmuseum reopened in April following an unprecedented 10 year renovation, the Stedelijk Museum reopened last year after a 9 year refurbishment, and 2013 marks 400 years since construction began on the city’s iconic canals. Continue reading “I AMsterdam”

Little Doric

Doric is the title of a family of paintings by Sean Scully, an ongoing series inspired by ancient Greek architecture, first shown as a group at the Benaki Museum in Athens last year. Since then there have been Doric exhibitions at IVAM in Valencia, the Hugh Lane in Dublin and the MACM in Mougins. Continue reading “Little Doric”

Palais Des Papes

This was the antithesis of Château la Coste. The Palais des Papes in Avignon is the biggest Gothic palace in the world and the most visited monument in France. It is huge and noisy and crowded. There are signs and notices everywhere telling you where to go, what to look at, what to photograph, what not to photograph. Continue reading “Palais Des Papes”