The Road Goes Ever On

Monday, May 1, 2017

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2

Continuing our visit to Madrid's impressive Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza; the pix I've posted only suggest its vast range and mostly omit the modern stuff...

Pedro Pablo, The Toilet of Venus

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait #4,627

Jan Steen, Tavern Scene; notice the guy in
back; we'll see him again

Eugene Boudin, Etretat, Cliff of Aval

Albert Bierstadt, Sunrise at Yosemite, 1863; Thyssen has many
Bierstadts

A Russell! Charlie Russell, Piegans Preparing to Steal Horses
from the Crows, 1888

One of many of Frederick Edwin Church's paintings at the
Thyssen, South American Landscape, 1856

Toulouse-Lautrec, The Jockeys, 1882

Gauguin, Fire st the River Bank, 1886

Franz Hals, Fisherman Playing the Violin,
1630

Another, somewhat atypical Franz Hals, Family Group in a
Landscape, 1640s

Remember the guy from the Tavern Scene?
Here he is, Jan Steen, Selfie, 1650s

Watteau, The Rest, 1709

And a Fragonard, The See-Saw

Stuart Gilbert, Portrait of George Washington's
Cook, 1797

One of many John Singer Sargents, Portrait
of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, 1904

One of many Catlins, Falls of St. Anthony, 1871

Delacroix, The Duke of Orleans Revealing to
the Duke of Burgundy His Lover, 1826;
possessive pronouns are really tough

A magnificent Courbet, The Water Stream,
La Breme, 1866

Van Gogh, The Stevedores of Arles, 1888

Another Van Gogh, Evening Landscape, 1885

Edward Hopper, Hotel Room, 1931; as I was looking, up came
two young American women, both pushing strollers with
face-painted 3 year-olds aboard:"Mommy loves Edward Hopper
paintings" "I love Edward Hopper, Mommy"

Georgia O'Keefe, New York with Moon, 1925

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1

Madrid has three large and famous art museums, the Prado, the Reina Sofia (Guernica and more), and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. For reasons we can not imagine, much less remember, we had never been to the Thyssen, and so, after a day's rest and relief from Goya and El Greco, we spent most of a day at the Thyssen, being overwhelmed by the size and quality of the collection and the visiting special collection of masterworks from the Museum of Fine Arts/National Gallery from Budapest. The Thyssen is very young as major museums go, just 25 years, but almost every historically great painter is represented in some form or another. In a couple of its many halls are the largest collection of American (USA) paintings we have seen in Europe. I took 260 pix at the Thyssen, but will heroically edit them down to 40 or so, more or less chronologically. There were many discoveries, many curiosities.

Entering the Thyssen-Boremisza; the big 3 story building is
on the left

NO FOTOS in the special visiting collection; understandably;
complete photographic freedom in the regular collection

Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Duccio de Buoninsegna,
yes, that Duccio; 14th century

Rogier van der Weyden, Madonna Enthroned

Jan van Eyck, Annunciation diptych

Holbein, Jr., Henry VIII

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of Giovanna
Tornabuoni, late 15th

It's been a long time since we've seen a real Della Robia, here,
Saint Augustine

It's a gorgeous museum, excellent display, all the amenities; the
gift shoppe is exceptional; the cafe/cafeteria maybe the best we
have seen

Leonardo Da Vinci, Virgin and Child with the
Infant John

Ha! Fooled you! It's Luini again!

Cranach, Virgin with Child Eating Grapes;
notice the Child's head is way too big

Albrecht Durer, Christ among the Elders

Cranach again, Reclining Nymph

Hans Baldung Grien, Adam and Eve, 1531; you
can see they were heading for trouble

Cranach's portrait of Charles V

Among the things we've learned on this trip is to look for
paintings by Joachim Patinir, a pioneer of landscape painting;
here, his Landscape on the Flight to Egypt,

A c. 1570 Last Supper once attributed to El Greco; before
he became El Greco

Francois Clouet, La Carta Amarosa, 1570

Caravaggio, St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1597

Claude Lorraine, of course, Landscape with
Flight to Egypt

A Canaletto that is not of the Grand Canal! Warwick Castle,
1749

Peter Brueghel, Elder, Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1596

Best Mountaineering/Travel Bookstore Ever, So Far

For some years, we have kidded about doing The Way, the Camino Santiago, or some suitable stretch of it. Not that we are, um, particularly devout, nor that we have some vow to keep. The Camino is very old, muy famoso, many trails, many variants, many sites, in France and Spain, and Portugal, all ending at the tomb of St. James, in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, northwest Spain. (We were there in 2010; see http://roadeveron.blogspot.com.es/2010/01/santiago-de-compostuela.html for enlightened commentary). We like treks, especially if the scenery is good or if they are historic. And especially if there are refuges or huts or pilgrim hostels along the way and auberges and ristorantes and cafes and wine bars so you don't have to carry a heavy pack. Or if other fun seems likely or you even get a compostela or maybe even a plenary indulgence for your trouble. We have (inadvertently) driven much of the French version, especially as it crosses Spain, and were thrilled to learn that there is a somewhat less crowded, much more scenic version, the Portuguese Way. Better yet, it is known as the easy version of The Way. So we have resolved to become Pilgrims, at least for a week or so in June, and consequently have been looking for the authoritative (and in English, too) guide book, A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino Portugues, 8th edition, by John Brierly. The publisher and then his distributor for Spain directed us to bookstores in Madrid, the most interesting of which, by far, was Libreria de Montana, not far from the Prado. Alas, they had only the 7th edition, published in 2016, not nearly good enough for us serious prospective Pilgrims. But just seeing the store was an extraordinary treat.