Category: Europe
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Meeting at the ‘galerie du temps’ …
Meeting at the ‘galerie du temps’ … … between the faint reflection of a modern woman and a terracotta woman of more than two and a half thousand years ago, as I saw it in the beautiful ‘galerie du temps’ of the Louvre-Lens museum in the north of France. Photo of the week: Statue-vase in…
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Medieval France
Medieval France In the hamlet of Massy you can see, opposite a small Romanesque church, this house dating from about the same time. Only the partly renovated roof, the doors, a little window and the piece of asphalt road reveal that we are no longer in the Middle Ages. Photo of the week: Massy, La…
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Romanesque austerity
Romanesque austerity Less is more, aesthetically. That is why Romanesque art and architecture is so compelling. More basic and austere than the Saint-Pierre in Brancion you won’t find easily. Photo of the week: Eglise romane Saint-Pierre, 12th cent., Brancion, France 2023
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Dry stone walls
Dry stone walls You’ll find them everywhere. For thousands of years man has built walls and fences following the technique of searching, measuring, cutting, fitting and piling of stones. This is a wall in Brancion, a medieval village in Burgundy. In the back the castle of Brancion. Photo of the week: Brancion, France 2023
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Stately beauty
Stately beauty Sculpture of a woman in a large empty space. All attention is drawn to her naked figure. A truly moving image. Giacometti has put her on a pedestal in the form of a chariot, which creates a strange tension. She is on view but doesn’t look a fool. On the contrary: straight and…
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Majestic distinction
Majestic distinction The pose of Diego, in spite of his loose-fitting sweater, is of majestic distinction. This is how Alberto has portrayed his brother, in his own unique style. Many of Giacometti’s sculptured figures, his thin ones too, show this characteristic distinction. It reflects the respectful, humane way Giacometti saw and approached his models. Photo…
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The artist at work
The artist at work On the picture by Ernst Scheidegger in the back we see Giacometti at work in his studio, surrounded by his sculptures. And on my picture you see Giacometti’s picture in turn surrounded by one of his sculptures and its reflections, creating layers of representation. Photo of the week: Alberto Giacometti, Bust…
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Alberto paints Annette
Alberto paints Annette The fact that the artist (Alberto Giacometti) paints a picture of his wife on this photo by Ernst Scheidegger is nothing special. She was his favourite female model. Still it gives the scene a touch of intimacy, a feeling that is intensified by the incident light in the otherwise dark wooden atmosphere…
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Kunsthaus window
Kunsthaus window When taking in and digesting art works in a museum there is always a moment that I pass a window and look through it at the world outside with an art-infused eye. This time it happened in the Kunsthaus in Zürich. It was winter and it had snowed a bit. Photo of the…
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Piet Mondria(a)n
Piet Mondria(a)n Mondria(a)n belongs to the canon of modern art. In the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam I saw the two top paintings exposed, in the Kunsthaus in Zürich the two bottom ones. The resemblance in choice of the two museums is striking. Mondria(a)n’s abstract work has become so commonplace and has been violated to such…
