Tag: Art
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Memento mori
Memento mori When walking around in a graveyard we may be content of still belonging to the realm of the living, but it also inevitably reminds us of our own mortality. This is certainly the case in the graveyard of the Portuguese Jews near Amsterdam. Many of the gravestones carry images that denote death: an…
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Anno Mundi 5490
Anno Mundi 5490 The Jewish cemetery at ‘Ouderkerk aan de Amstel’ near Amsterdam is called Beth Haim which means House of Life. This tells us something about the Sephardim philosophy of life – and death. The picture shows a detail of a partly submerged gravestone in which we see a shepherdess with her cattle. A…
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Watery grave
Watery grave I saw this sculpted marble gravestone at the cemetery of the Portuguese Jewish community in ‘Ouderkerk aan de Amstel’. The Sephardim Jews had started settling in Amsterdam in the 16th century and their cemetery in nearby Ouderkerk dates from 1614. I used to pass and visit it regularly on my walks along the…
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Maps
Maps Populonia,Via de CrinaleVia dei Cavalleggeri …Not much is left of the map on display telling us about exciting places to visit and walks to take around the Gulf of Baratti on the west coast of Tuscany. I love maps. A map can let us dream of unknown worlds, even when the elements have transformed…
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Selective memory
Selective memory Last week we had a theatre stage covered with carnations, this week we have tree branches hanging from the ceiling of a restaurant. While I still cherish the memory of the ballet performance between the thousands of carnations, the dinner under the tree branches has passed into oblivion. Photo of the week: Restaurant…
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“Nelken” stage
“Nelken” stage Carnations, thousands of them, growing on the stage of “Nelken”, the ballet by Pina Bausch. Since its premiere in 1982 it has been performed by Tanztheater Wuppertal numerous times all over the world. I saw it twice in Amsterdam, in 1995 and then again in 2016. Meanwhile Pina Bausch had died but her…
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A tribute to HM
A tribute to HM I was immersed in looking at The Sheaf, one of Matisse’s large collages, made during the latter years of his life when he was bedridden and not able to paint anymore. Then a visitor entered my field of view. I took her appearance for a fortunate incident, a fleeting tribute to…
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Wet dream
Wet dream The young man dreams of a good catch. Only when looking more closely at the painting we see what kind of fish he actually hopes to hook up with. Sweet dreams of youth. Photo of the week: “Rêves de jeunesse” (1894) by the Swiss painter Luigi Rossi, Musée d’Art et Histoire, Genève, Switzerland…
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Stigmata
Stigmata When the shopkeeper in the little town of Deruta, known since mediaeval times for its quality production of majolica earthenware, was dressing his shop-window he must have thought: let’s have something for everyone. Photos of the week: Ceramics shop, Deruta, Italy 2018
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Gilded Buddha’s
Gilded Buddha’s These are a few of a whole series of Buddha statues inside Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham. The variety in their facial features is remarkable. Probably different individuals (local monks?) have served as models for the sculptors, with this lively diversity as a result. Photo of the week: Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham, Luang Prabang, Laos 2020
καιρός remembered 