WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT LEADS – Arnold Böcklin: create allegories with colors, where the Alps become hills
ARNOLD BOCKLIN 1/3 – When in 1945 the Red Army entered Berlin, one of the five versions of a painting by Böcklin it was still hanging on the wall of the study of Hitler. That painting – born in a period spanning the last vestiges of Neoclassicism and signs devoid of Art Nouveau – has remained in Moscow for many …
Read More »WALKING IN “BELEN DE AMERICA” – Huelva, Andalusia: between Rio Tinto and Odiel, looking for a New World
At Mazagon, Spain – a resort on the sea which is 18 km southeast of Huelva – you find a particular hotel, the “Parador Nacional Cristobal Colon”. Perhaps you wonder why that name, in this place that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Walking through the streets of this modern city in Andalusia, between Rio Tinto and the Odiel you will find …
Read More »UNFORGETTABLE PAINTINGS OF AUTHOR – Beira Alta, Portugal: the charm of the small Viseu, the magic of Caramulo.
On Paiva River, between old houses and rolling hills, a small art center preserves something special for those who love what man is capable of creating. Beira Alta, in northern Portugal, is a region that can surprise you, already observing the small town of Viseu. Here, in the highest part of town, an impressive cathedral (The Self), that from the …
Read More »“CUATRO POSTES”: SMALL SQUARE, BIG MAGIC – Spain, Old Castile: the charm of Avila, within the Paseo del Rastro
To the right of the Rio Adaja, within an intact city walls, the Old Castile retains a small treasure trove of art, even for you. Avila, the walled city that preserves the memory of Santa Teresa, your wonderful opportunity to admire a fascinating slice of Spain. You arrive in Plaza Santa Teresa crossing the Puerta de l’Alcazar, but to better …
Read More »54.5 METERS OF VERTIGO, IN 294 STEPS – Pisa, Italy: Field of Miracles, a place of the soul over a green lawn
No need to climb over a hill, to see where is the “Field of Miracles”, because the collective imagination that field is a place of the soul, which lives in a city: Pisa. That field of grass and marble, contains the Duomo and the Baptistery, the Leaning Tower and the Cemetery. Perhaps you too – as many who have traveled …
Read More »YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK / CALIFORNIA – Next to giant sequoias and above Glacier Point, waiting to know “El Capitan”
Yes, it’s true. In Mariposa Grove there are giant sequoias. Entering the Yosemite Park (using the south entrance, and turning right), you come to the area where they live the oldest existing plants on earth. 500, only 500 redwoods seem to sleep on the sides and the top of a hill. Maybe you want to see the two most famous …
Read More »ALFONS MARIA MUCHA (1860/1939), CZECH PAINTER – Floral frames, geometric shapes and figures with classic suits
THE CZECH PAINTER OF WOMEN – Alfons Maria Mucha: Art Nouveau painter, with images of women
ALFONS MARIA MUCHA 1/3 – When he was born in Ivančice, that land was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was still a child, it is in Brno which manifests his first interest in drawing. When at the age of 19 he moved to Vienna, working designer, of painting he increases his technical knowledge. ALFONS MARIA MUCHA 2/3 – …
Read More »THE MUSICAL TONES OF THE CZECH SOUL – Like the mirror of his people, feeling music and different rhythms
When your geographical horizon extends – for business or pleasure – you have the wonderful opportunity to hear you inside, like the perfectly proportioned man (created by Leonardo da Vinci), correlating the symmetry of human anatomy to the symmetry of the universe. What you see, hear, eat and feel, it’s all inside the Vitruvian approach to life. Welcome to the …
Read More »THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING – Romance, by Milan Kundera
There are four characters (two women and two men), where the events are intertwined, embracing all the colors of love, and also the dependence of a woman by her man, along with the fear of abandonment and infidelity. Yes, these are the existential parentheses around the adaptation of all our actions, emotional and social. Imagine reading a novel, which its …
Read More »BETWEEN RIVERS OF BEER AND FRAGRANCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES – Ceske Budejovice / South Bohemia: where even the marble cherubs love beer
Only when you get to “Na Sadech” – a street lined with trees and lawns – you realize that “stare mesto of this city of Southern Bohemia is before you, with its relaxed and cosmopolitan soul. No more silver mines and even salt traffic, but rivers of good beer “Budvar”, better known by its German name “Budweiser”. The Tourist Office …
Read More »I WILL THIRST – Poetry, by Jan Maruna
I WILL THIRST By poems, by thoughts, I open one soul glimmer. With it I discover the glow of the fireplace, beneficent at this time, because on the body feels the heat, when the soul will cool to me, and I will have a thirst for words, of poetry. (Jan Maruna)
Read More »WHERE THE SCULPTOR OF SUGAR LIVES – Mezedes and tis oras, psarotaverna and psistaria. Welcome to the Greek nights
One of the magical moments that are enclosed inside a vacation in Greece, is a gentle reminder, like the pleasant scent of a tavern, where you wait to start your dinner. In that place that welcomes your eyes and makes your belly happy, maybe too – sometimes – you preferred drink enough, but eating only “mezedes”. Like all those who …
Read More »