Saturday morning, I took the train to Venice to meet up with my friend Ryan. He's originally from Seattle, but he's been in Germany for the past few weeks as a chaperone for some high school students. He got the opportunity to break off from his group for a few days to visit Italy, so after a few days in Rome and Naples, he headed north.
After we met up, I took him to the main attractions (Rialto Bridge, Saint Mark's Square, the Bridge of Sighs, etc.). But after that, we deviated from the normal routine and checked out something new: The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It's one of the few modern art museums in Italy, made even more unique in that it displays quite a few pieces from American artists. (You can check out Peggy's story here and the website of the collection here.)
I've really been looking forward to checking out this museum for a while, and I wasn't disappointed. We saw Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Impressionism. There were works by Miro, Ernst, Dali, Kandinsky, Duchamp, Pollock (which were particularly mesmerising), and Picasso (my favourite). Plus, we got to learn about Futurism, an early 20th-century art movement that began in Italy. I thought it was cool that the museum was actually Peggy's house for the last 30 years of her life. Oh, to be an independently wealthy socialite.
We spent the remainder of the evening walking around Venice, purposefully getting lost, and indulging in food and wine. That's what it's all about, right?
1 comment:
Futurism - fascinating stuff - not very p.c. - liked violence, speed, throwing out the past, technology - man's triumph over nature. The founder reconciled himself w/ the church by declaring "Jesus was a futurist." Don't what it means - but you make me want to look into it.
Enjoy
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