Munich brings down the curtain - Picasso and red & black chalk

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Well folks - with a sigh of relief all round (it's killing me mostly, don't know about youse folks - anyone who complains about "too many words" can hang their heads in shame and sit at the back, now) I start what will essentially be my last blog for this trip. BKK will be a free zone as the hotel does not have wifi, or if they do you have to pay for it, which I am not intending to do. In a way its a relief as it has done nothing for my sleep patterns but ruin them! - this morning did not wake til 11am - but at least the weather was predictably grey and I knew it was going to rain. It indeed did so and the umbrella got its first use - previously I had worn a waterproof jacket (in case it did rain), but decided the warm fleece was more in order and the umbrella to keep the rain off me - and the Kathmandu beanie/skull cap to keep solar powered head under control. Temps today 8-6 accdg to BBC and "heavy rain" - well not torrential - and tomorrow is merely "light rain" so that is better.

It was clearly going to be a gallery day - and maybe the Albertina was not the best choice on a Sunday as half of Vienna seemed to be there at 3.30pm or so and about a 15 min.+ queue to get a ticket. Apparently normally there is an art junkie's shopping list of stuff to see - but as I had seen from posters it was Picasso and Michelangelo - did not realise that was totally going to be it however as these two took over a respective level of the gallery - Pablo upstairs and Michel'angelo in the basement.

To Pablo's efforts first. The first thing I noted was how professionally they were presented - walls all dark grey - and very tight focussed rectangular lighting on the paintings. The inevitable foyer crush of those damn audioguide things. This was a very curated exhibition and very well put together. I did not have a notebook with me but scribbled some things down when I got to Cafe Mozart over the road as to themes. Some general 1930's period paintings then the Charnel House which was used to start detailing Picasso's very heavy political involvement in which he reacted almost immediately to various world events in his paintings and art. I found the Charnel (slaughter) House to be very reminiscent of the huge Guernica piece now back in Madrid - in its use of black and grey and white and shapes it is rather similar in style. The Guernica I originally saw in the Retiro annex to the Prado in Madrid in 1983 and it is the most emotional piece of art I have seen in my life I think - or the effect was anyway, as you only approached it finally in this huge room with only it on display via a series of surrounding galleries with sketches for the work - and then bam! you see the huge completed work (its 3.5m high by about 7.7m wide - so its BIG). I saw it again in 2006 or so on the way to Cuba - and there it was almost just another painting in its own side annex at the Reina Sofia gallery where it now is.

Anyway enough of Guernica - the theme moved on to the Rape of the Sabine Women - loosely based on a couple of separate 17/18th century paintings by other artists with the same theme - but of course "interpreted" by Picasso in a similar but rather different pictorial style - his disjointed figure style etc. Then the Algerian Women - based on a picture of women in an Algerian marketplace - but Picasso's immediate reaction to the violent French intervention in its colony in Algeria which continued until its independence in about 1962. The next gallery carried details of his involvement in the radical left and the peace movement to which he contributed art works for leftist papers etc. It was interesting that it appeared to advance the concept that Picasso was almost personally responsible for the concept of the dove as a symbol of peace and it was used repeatedly in his peace posters etc. Cannot say I have ever thought of that before, but presumably there was a basis for that speculation. There was an in depth time line detailing the political events in each year he was working. The fact that his paintings were such a spontaneous reaction to world political events and swiftly done maybe refleccs why most of these had exact dates i.e. 13/4/67, painted on them by Picasso. Then there was a room of largely green paintings - which were his interpretations of various aspects of Manet's Dejeuner sur l'Herbe - apparently the Bois du Boulogne was notorious for prostitutes lounging around and Manet's free and liberal depiction of this caused quite a scandal at the time. The last room's theme was the alleged fascination with the association of women (loving and caring) and musketeers (warlike and hostile) in his last 10 years of painting.

Then downstairs for Michelangelo. At first I thought, oh no, not all drawings - but when you slow down and look at them he was indeed a master of "disegno" - drawing. He was a master draftsman and obviously of the anatomical aspects of the human body in particular in its various articulations. When I started looking closely at these - and most were done with red chalk, sometimes black, the simple shading is incredibly evocative and effective. So much with so little, and so subtle yet detailed. He was such a good draftsman that he often gave his friends or colleagues "sketches" which they could then paint up. You only realise how accurate this all is when in a video they show you how the sketches for the Sistine Chapel virtually match and reflect exactly the finished result. The other amazing thing is - most of these were done around 1530 - in red chalk on paper - how come they look so fresh and well preserved still?? OK some brown spots in the paper but you can hardly "retouch" chalk can you!

Out of these and to the Cafe Mozart over the road to get out of the rain and have a little restore - which was hot chocolate with whipped cream. I almost could have eaten there but decided to puddle off somewhere else - rain wasn't too bad. So I ended up at a place called Mullerbeisl for some Austrian food - otherwise it being Sunday night it could easily have been pizza! Decided I was not going to do a full 3 course thing, its too much. So Tafelspitz - which is essentially boiled beef which they bring you in a copper pot - 2 large thick slices of beef in a broth with some veges - and a plate with a timbale of crushed roasted potatoes, a lovely horse radish cream which was just right - and some warm pureed apple which seemed not to go with anything really. I had a large glass of Edelweiss weisbier which was nice - and cheaper and better value than Austrian merlot which was 1Euro more for a much smaller glass - (when in Bavaria or Austria drink beer - its usually cheaper than Coke). To complete the Austrian theme Topfenknodel - dumplings filled with cream cheese and with roast plum sauce it said. They were more baked I assume two little pockets containing cream cheese, dusted with icing sugar and on a bed of almost sour plum sauce. I almost felt I had eaten some real Austrian food - and all the tourists in there probably felt the same (a large group of French people - a horde of Japanese appeared from downstairs, some Brits later). It was probably the ideal way to end Vienna food wise (I did have a falafel sandwich yesterday for a very late snack when i arrived from a stall outside the Westbahnof).

Back via the Ubahn to my hotel - Furst Metternich - which is very comfortable - glad I am not paying the season's rate on the wall of 130E a night for single and 190E for double - this is a double room and it cost me 135E for 2 nights. I hope it does not rain too much tomorrow and I can force myself to see something more - a museum inside no doubt, before I have to head to the airpot c.4pm-ish for flight to LHR to connect to BKK. TTFN.

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Photos

outside the Albertina at 6pm
"sunset" allegedly today at 6.01pm

Ubahn station at Stadtpark
on my wet way home

the bong shop in my street
which also sells grow lamps & all the kit

Comments

[Huddo]

Picasso chalked up.
Hi Mike, That was amazing to read of 15th century chalk. Your description of those drawings, and the detail was superb, what a man ahead of his time he was indeed. Cafe Mozart, what a shingle to hang outside your business, the meal sounded pretty good as well, beer cheaper than coke! Bong shop photo, and the Albertina exterior, Cafe Mozart, great. Love the sales cartoon you sent to Lefty, he he, so true. Safe travel, onwards. Love Huddo.