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Mondria(a)n
Mondria(a)n This painting (The Grey Tree), revealing cubist influence, shows Mondriaan at the crossroads between his earlier figurative work and his later purely abstract paintings. Mondriaan made it in 1911, the year he went to France where he wished to join the Parisian Avant Garde. On his way to Paris Mondriaan dropped one ‘a’ of…
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Bonies in the Art Museum (2021)
Bonies in the Art Museum (2021) (Nota bene: After Autumn Sonata, the first weekly post on my blog almost ten years ago, today’s post happens to be number 500. And I’m still there to continue!) The ‘Kunstmuseum’ (Art Museum) in The Hague, the GEM of Berlage, is a piece of art in itself. I think…
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‘Hollands Glorie’
‘Hollands Glorie’ ‘The pride of Holland’. In the 17th and 18th century the rich Dutch bourgeoisie built houses like this outside the cities at their newly acquired country estates. These were country houses (‘buitenhuizen’) where the owners would spend the summer months with their families. Between Amsterdam and Utrecht many of these country houses were…
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Getaway gateway
Getaway gateway A wall in the forest.A tightly closed gate. In my mind’s eye I see a fair maiden,kept in solitary confinement.Waiting for her Prince Charmingto come and carry her off. Photo of the week: Country estate Huis te Manpad, Heemstede, Netherlands 2021
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Cedrus libani
Cedrus libani “Spring is beautiful everywhere, but it is most beautiful in Lebanon. It is a spirit that roams round the earth but hovers over Lebanon, conversing with Kings and Prophets … repeating with the Holy Cedars of Lebanon the memory of ancient glory.” (Khalil Gibran)And after the ravages of war and other calamities, for…
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Shutter pig
Shutter pig It’s only an outline, the sawn out pig itself is gone.We look at an empty space, the negative form of a pig.So true to life that we see its round, fat body in front of us. Photo of the week: Shutter pig, Solalex, Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland 2021
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Jaunty stride
Jaunty stride They love rummaging around our garden at the crack of dawn, at times even some five or six of them. They are doing well in the forests, the bushes, (and our garden), the Kalij pheasants, that is,as long as they manage to escape the jaws of the pine marten, the fox and the…
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Cors des Alpes
Cors des Alpes A concert with two alpine horns and two accordions in an old Hydro Power Plant in the Rhône, where the river flows out of Lake Geneva. Very original, as for the music, the instruments and the location.The musicians played arrangements of old baroque compositions and more recent pieces specially composed for these…
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Fellow villagers
Fellow villagers Two Kumaoni women attending the wedding of a girl in the village. Lives lived in the lap of nature and culture in the foothills of the Himalaya. Photo of the week: Wedding guests, Maat village, Almora, Kumaon, Uttarakhand India 2020
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Folding child
Folding child Neatly folded up,mouth above the plate.Nothing spilled. Photo of the week: Mayoli Organic farm, Mayoli, Uttarakhand, India 2021
