Todays agenda began with the final sight that we just had to see in Barcelona: The Picasso Museum. This museum is a really neat look at the artists work because it begins with his earliest childhood works (when he was about 14) and progresses through his developments in style until he finally reaches the cubist style that the word "Picasso"brings to mind today. Interesting tidbit: Picasso was his mothers last name. His earliest works are signed Ruiz-Picasso but later in his life (while studying in Paris) Picasso dropped his father's last name and kept only his mother's last name (he was closer to her) Some interesting moments in the museum include a sad phase when Picasso painted paintings almost entirely in blue tones. He also has some paintings that are impressionist in quality when Picasso begins
to break from a realist depiction. Finally, my favorite section of the museum was the room of "Las Meninas" paintings. Remember this painting by Velazquez (top left). Well, one whole room of the museum was devoted to Picasso's copies of this painting. He painted many of them. Some paintings isolated only one character and experimented with interpretations of that person'd face. In others he painted 2 or 3 of the characters - and in others he reproduced the entire painting. It was a fascinating look into the artistic process. For example, in this black and white representation the image of Velazques
(the painter on the left) is gigantic while the images of the king and queen reflected in the back wall's mirror have been reduced to white smudges. Similar changes and experimentation occur when Picasso paints this image in color. The crazy Crayola colors he uses are fun and encourage this idea of playing with the work of another artist. I read a quote from my guide book that I loved. "As a child, he was taught to paint as an adult. Now, as an old man (with little kids of his own) he paints like a child." This museum was most interesting because it allowed us to follow Picasso through that backward feeling development from "adult" to "child" in his works. It was a beautiful journey and this museum was a special peak into the mind of one of the world's greatest artists. I am so glad we were able to see it during our short time in Barcelona!
The next item on our agenda was another Merce event - the human towers competition. This competition is exactly what it sounds like. Different groups come together and build themselves into towers made completely by people, without any kind of air or support. This exhibition was truly impressive. I was speaking with Kristine
(another girl in our group) about it afterward about the almost primitive beauty of this event. A kind of strength and power that lies the human body - natural and unaided. These people built themselves up to towering heights using only the body - the human body that we all share - and triumphed. It was neat to see the triumph - in a world of steroids and enhancement drugs. This competition lacked the "win or nothing" atmosphere that often lingers around competitions in America. This seemed more like a challenge against nature and a triumph for all humans - that our bodies can accomplish tremendous feats and we shouldn't forget that. Altogether - this was an impressive event and I am so glad we were able to see it. However, this was the last item we had
planned for the day before our evening flight back to Madrid. We walked back through Las Ramblas again for some last minute shopping. We lunched at the Opera Cafe (across the street from the Opera) which boast a opening date of 1929 and was quaint and cute inside (with a surprisingly local feel and cheap prices to boot). Along the Ramblas we saw another display in a building that said Merce at the top and walked in to find Giants! These beautiful, big people were the one traditional "event" of La Merce that we missed. These large creatures were walking around the plaza by the Cathedral during our first day here but (still in an unfamiliar city) we didn't make it over to see them on Friday. However, it was still really neat to be able to see them on display and imagine them gracefully strolling around the plaza. After this though, we walked back up the street to Plaza Catalunya for a rest and then headed back to the hostel for our bags (that we'd left there after checking out that morning). Then it was off to the airport and home to Madrid (our flight only an hour delayed this time). Exhausted doesn't even begin to cover how I was feeling Sunday night (before a Monday full of classes) but I left Barcelona with no regrets.
Hope you're made it through these enormous posts ... and hopefully I'm not exhausting you with my detailed accounts. Sorry - there's just lots that I want to share. Miss you all. Besos.
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