Picasso Museum

 

The Frugal Repast

 It would be hard to argue that the Picasso Museum is hard to find, given that it is in a castle and just off of the main streets of Barcelona. Still, Bonnie and I missed it going one way, since we saw a sign telling us it was back toward the way we had just come from. Hundreds of thousands of non Catalyn speaking people find it every year and we did as well.

There was an special exhibit, Picasso Follows Degas. Degas picture had been loaned from galleries in New York, London, Los Angeles and Kohn to be put beside Picasso´s reworking of the same theme – sometimes done the same year, sometimes separated by decades.

Bonnie and I went slowly through every room, trying to decide which was the picture we would take home. I liked the Frugal Repast, though I had spent a lot of time with Lola, Picasso´s sister.  The text beside the picture said that the artist often used his relatives as models.  That was true.  We saw his cousin, his father, and Lola.

Picasso´s sister, Lola

I couldn´t get over the tie of her scarf and the volume of it around her neck, and finally switched scarves with Bonnie so that I could at least to Arta Follows Picasso, as far as Lola´s scarf was concerned. I came close but I could not match the curve and elegance of the master´s brush.

Four hours and we ran out of time in the special exhibit and got no further than the cafeteria in the regular museum.



Going through a museum with a loved one is more fun that going alone.  Bonnie and I knew when to laugh, mostly at ourselves, though sometimes the laughter was at the joy of the paintings.

How much fun was it to see Degas and Picasso, side by side, each doing self-portraits.

Picasso Self Portrait at age 17

 What you see here is Picasso doing a self-portrait at the age of 17. 

Don´t you love the touseled hair and the look he gives the viewer?

I always think the price of the entrance into a special exhibit at a museum is worth its weight in gold.  Seeing pictures side by side on a wall that have come from across continents to be displayed together is such a joy.

I am going back before I leave. The museum houses mostly his early works.  Those are enough for now.

Arta