The Bibles of Sepharad

The Crossed Lives of the Text and Its Readers 

Don´t miss the exhibition at the National Library about the Hebrew manuscripts produced in the Iberian Peninsula during medieval times , they are  so poignand!

After being read by Jews and converts, and later collected by various owners and institutions, many of these manuscripts are travelling for the first time from their place of origin to show a piece of Spanish cultural history in this exhibition.

During the middle ages, the Hebrew Bible was the backbone of Jewish cultural and religious life in the Iberian Peninsula. This exhibition explores the history of these volumes, their relationship with readers and collectors and the way they were read and interpreted by Iberian Jews of the epoch.

The exhibition is divided into eight sections: 'The Bible', 'Learning', 'Liturgy', 'Biblical Exegesis', 'Polemics', 'Reason and Revelation', 'Reading Spaces and Types of Reading' and 'Collecting in Spain.' The Hebrew language, interpretations of the sacred text and the Bible's influence on architecture are just some of the subjects covered in this show.

Chagall in Madrid Thyssen Bornemitza Museum

The exhibition traces the evolution of Chagall life

Marc Chagall developed a highly expressive and colourist pictorial style that was closely linked to his own life and to the religious and popular traditions of the Russian Jewish community. Chagall combined elements from Cubism, Fauvism and Robert Delaunay’s Orphism to create a personal style that is difficult to categorise. Born in the small Russian town of Vitebsk, Chagall’s long life (he lived to be almost 100) was marked by the major historic events of the first half of the 20th century. A tireless creator and one always open to new experiences and to learning, Chagall’s output is rich and varied. Using his particular and unique style, he was permanently open to exploring new techniques (oil, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, stained glass, etc) and to undertaking new projects. One important section of this exhibition, for example, is devoted to his significant activitie s as a book illustrator. Throughout his life Chagall was surrounded by poets and writers who were his friends and with whom he maintained close and mutually creative relations. Breton, Malraux, Cendrars and Apollinaire were among those who considered him a “literary painter” and it is evident that Chagall loved literature, particularly the message of freedom contained within words, which he was able to enrich with his fantastical and colourful compositions.

Chagall was essentially a master of colour; his tones vibrate in different intensities and function to highlight the subjects of his paintings. His blues, greens, reds and yellows fill with life his real or imaginary characters, who inhabit a special universe of their own. Everything is possible in this constantly surprising world based on real or imagined stories: a violinist, a rabbi, two lovers, an acrobat, a landscape and a wide range of fantastical animals fill his compositions. In this world, colours and surprising figures and animals come together in previously unknown ways, resulting in a unique combination that made Chagall a forerunner of Surrealism, as that movement’s theoretician, André Breton, noted: “With Chagall, metaphor made its triumphant entry into modern painting.”

The Bible has been a source of inspiration for Marc Chagall ever since he was a boy living in the ghetto of Vitebsk in White Russia.

 ‘Ever since my earliest youth I have been fascinated by the Bible. I have always believed that it is the greatest source of poetry of all time...The Bible is an echo of nature, and this I Have endeavoured to transmit....In art everything is possible, so long as it is based on love.’

Chagall Masterpieces transport us into a magical world teeming with fabulous creatures and characters. His poetic reach takes in both Biblical themes and the world of acrobats and artistes, one of his most moving motifs being lovers entwined in each others’ arms and wreathed in a myriad of flowers. Drawing on his Jewish-Russian roots as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, Marc Chagall continued reimagining this essentially spiritual narrative right to the end of his days and in doing so conveyed a message of hope and freedom that even now, at the dawn of the third millennium, has lost none of its relevance or urgency.

The exhibition will be on display until May the 5th 2012

The Orden of the Golden Fleece

In my visits to the PradoMuseum with children I like to encourage them to look at those gentlemen carrying around their neck a ”ram” figurine, since they will probably were Kings of Spain. This a perfect point to start the story about the mythological origins of this country, Spain.

The name of the order refers to the Greek myth of the Golden Fleece, a gift from the gods, which brought a source of prosperity to whoever possessed it. It evokes the tale of chivalry, heroism, perils and teamwork led Jason, Hercules, and the Argonauts in order to bring the precious talisman to Pelias King from the Asian city of Colchis.

“La orden del Toisón de Oro” (The Order of the Golden Fleece) was an institution that Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, founded in 1420 to defend the ideals of chivalry, and whose sovereignty passed to the Crown of Castile when Philip the Fair, son and heir of Mary of Burgundy, married Juana I of Castile, daughter of the Catholic Kings. Since then, the King of Spain presides over the Order, and a gold chain with the talisman is conferred to the Knights of the Order at their inauguration.

I highly recommend the exhibition at Foundation Carlos de Amberes (Charles of Antwerp) in Madrid. It’s a nice opportunity to learn about our history and appreciate good masterpieces, such as “The Martydom of S. Andrew”, the patron of the Order, by Rubens, which belongs to the Foundation since 1639 , or the only work in our country by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres “Philip V confers the Golden Fleece to the Duke of Berwick”.




Notice in several pictures the cross-shaped cross, called Burgundy. It was the emblem of the Thirds of Flanders and it is still part of the shields of the King and the Spanish Army.And now, go back to the Prado and look the flags at Velazquez masterpiece “ The surrounded of Breda”

Picasso with us

I was born the same year that Picasso died. Today is the 130th birthday of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), whose artistic genius has influenced the development of modern and contemporary art with unparalleled magnitude.

For me, Picasso represents the passion for living without measure

The Guernica is probably his most passionate masterpiece, its not un ordinary picture but an anti-war hymn and a symbol of the defense of liberties that is at long last arriving in a democratic Spain in 1981 , as is creator wished. At this year in Spain a lond awaited democracy is still being consolidated.It has come from the MOMA and is going to be housed in the Cason del Buen Retito…a really good scenery for the huge piece.The first time I saw the Guernica  I was so overwhelmed I had to sit down in the middle of the room. I had seen reproductions in art books, but nothing really prepared me for the magnitude of the real thing. It is huge and has a huge outpouring of emotion flowing off the canvas.

Sit in front of it and let it wash over you.

www.museoreinasofia.es

A painting filled with mystery

            I love going back to Venice. There is no other place comparable in the world.
My intention was to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and write about it ... but my room’s view was the wooden bridge spanning the Grand Canal just in front of the Gallerie de la Accademia and the temptation to go back to the Galleria was too strong to resist.

            I had not been there since a long time ago and did not remember the decadent and chaotic state of the rooms, which produce an intense halo of romance. Two months ago I had the chance of seeing The Tempest, in the Hermitage of San Petersburg. They had welcomed the masterpiece with high respect and admiration and it was beautifully displayed and lit. Yesterday, at the Accademia I was again trapped by its brilliance.

            A lot has been surmised about this painting, including a range of interpretations ranging from pastoral to mythological and biblical. Amidst all these speculations however, two things are certain: the dominance and beauty of the natural setting - with the impending storm (tempest) churning away in the background. Before Giorgione, other artists had, indeed, painted figures with a landscape background, but the perfect blend of Nature and human nature was his achievement.

            The quality of line and the sensuousness of color nowhere cast their spells over us more strangely than in Giorgione's pictures, and by these means he created new and extraordinary effects. In these purely pictorial qualities he is supreme and claims a place with the few quintessential artists of the world.

            As an instrument of expression, then, color is used by Giorgione more naturally and effectively than it is by any of the Venetian painters. It appeals directly to our senses, like rare old stained glass, and seems to be of the very essence of the object itself. Maybe this painting doesn't "mean" anything at all; maybe, like music, it simply evokes a mood, a feeling.

MADRIS IS ALL ABOUT ART, Madrid is buzzing !

Dealers, gallery owners, collectors and plain art lovers ( like you and me) all have a date once more with the latest art trends at ARCHITECTURE WEEK and  ESTAMPA in October. And the other fairs that have sprung up around it .For this edition, tha fair is unveiling a new look, making it easier to appreciate. At this time of year Madrid welcomes a host of visitors from all parts of the world who are interested in new forms of expression. And they want to make the most of their stay. For them and for everyone else check my list of the best places which are well worth a visit , which are innovating and proposing a new way of understanding life. Matta: The Open Cubew  , Andreas Fogarasi, Eugène Delacroix, and The Hermitage in the Prado I want to encourage you visit them  and strolling along the streets if you want to see the most vibrant side of Madrid and experience the city´s way of life.

Titian exploration of psychology of the human passion

"Years ago I decided that the greatest ned in our Country was Art...So I determined to make it my life work if I could" Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1917

 

After visiting the Isabella Stewart Museum and seeing the wonderful Titian’s table ‘The Rape of Europa’ I wonder how it got there from the Spanish collections. This masterpiece is very important for many reasons, for instance, when Velazquez first arrived to the Court, he finds Reubens (52 years old and at the height of his fame) copying the painting. The young Velazquez was very impressed with both the work of Titian and the painting skills of Reubens. It was a ‘coup de foudre’ with Rubens, whom he also admired much as diplomatic, commissioner, and nobleman. Near the end of his life, Velasquez pays tribute to Reubens and Titian in his painting ‘The Fable of Arachne’ (also known as ‘The Tapestry Weavers’), an allegory on the nobility of the art of painting and an affirmation of the supremacy of Velazquez himself.

The Titian picture was painted for Philip II of Spain in 1562. Which was the painting's travel history since it left Spain until its arrival to Boston? Tracing the movements of a work of art such as this one is a sort of detective work. I asked my friend MJ Gibson to search it in inventories and auction catalogues. The picture left the Spanish Royal Collection destined as a wedding present for Charles I of England . The painting remains first into the collection of the Duke of Orleans, eventually reaching England during the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon. For almost a century it hung in Lord Darnley’s collection before being sold, in the 1890s, to the great collector Isabella Stewart Gardner for £20,000, about $100,000 in those days. Drawing upon letters and accounts in the Colnaghi archives, the art historian J.Howard unravels the complex negotiations carried out by Isabella’s friend and young scholar Mr.Bernard  Berenson (''I am breathless after a two days' orgy, drinking myself drunk with 'Europa,' thinking and dreaming about her'')  which led up to its eventual sale and triumphant installation in Boston in 1896.

Indeed, many specialists and connoisseurs, considers ‘The Rape of Europa’ the greatest Italian picture hanging in United States collections.