Back from the Museum of Erotic Art
February 13th 2008 20:17
The latter half of my day was quite relaxing... I had a simple home-made lunch of a bread bun, cheese, ham and tomatoes, before setting out for the Salvador Dali Museum. Inside were hundreds of drawings, some paintings, some book illustrations, some sculptures, plenty of photographs of Dali posing with various objects, plates, coins and various other works of art. The museum is housed in a very small space, especially considering the vastness of the material. The space looked quite cluttered as a result, sculptures getting in the way of the paintings behind them, and sketches places so close together that itīs difficult to get some perspective. The poor works had no breathing room. As Iīve implied, I enjoy Daliīs work- so much so that I wished to take a day trip to Figueres where his theatre-museum is housed and explore the riches there... my dad had other plans, however. The LP section on this museum wasnīt all that encouraging so I was expecting a much smaller and more modest collection. I was pleasantly surprised at the scope of the artworks. There were some lovely paintings of horses (and, later, of horses merging into other creatures, like humans or birds), and drawings that explored the melting clocks theme also struck me as intriguing. There was a display that Dali had designed for a festival or parade of some sort, and on the ceiling was painted a hole in the wall, with Dali leaning over the roof with the sky in the background. Fascinating stuff. Dali was very versatile, it seems- he even designed a calendar and created his own interpretations of the signs of the zodiac upon plates. I was farewelled by a black and white cardboard cut-out of Dali posing with a fish, held triumphantly above his head.
On the way to the museum I came across the Museum of Erotic Art, and the girl that was marketing the attraction at the door told us that it would be open until 9:30 or so, and as I had no other plans for the day and it was still quite early in the afternoon I decided to give it a go. I wasnīt disappointed - everything from French erotic postcards to Japanese perfume bottles depicting two women pleasuring each other was to be found, and much more. There were some lovely Indian paintings, and an interesting display of BDSM-themed material. I ended up taking plenty of photos. I probably enjoyed the work of a Polish-born, San Francisco-based photographer the most... unfortunately I forget her name. She had a photo of a naked Asian lady posing artistically with flowers on her breasts, and half a dozen other senusal images. The museum mainly focused on European and Asian erotica, and included a sex toy or two. There was actually a black īpleasure seatī in the middle of one of the rooms.
On the way back I picked up some gourmet bonbons from our local market (which is very large and colourful, selling everything from fruits and vegetables to fish and ready-made pasta) and cheerfully strolled La Rambla on the way home.
When I got home I caught up on the latest news in the presidential race, and I think Barack is starting to grow on me. Gawd knows why- the most progressive he is in regards to gay rights is to support civil unions. Then again, Hillary isnīt much better. I do think BO has a more youthful, playful style, and I get really sick of the way Hillary forces her words out. Anyone want to tell me who of these two they prefer, and why?
We had tickets to Elektra, the opera at the Grand Theatre Liceu, but dad didnīt want to watch anything sad so he suggested we leave. I was only too happy to do so, as opera isnīt my thing. Rock opera, maybe. The highlight of the experience was making our way up to the first floor (i.e. second floor if yóuīre in Australia), which is a masterpiece of jade and gold, with frescoes on the ceilings.
Before that, we dined at a very patriotic Italian restraunt called Bello Italy (the table decor was green, white and red) which had a set menu for seven euros. They also sold tapas, and provided french fries, but I guess thatīs part of being in Barcelona- itīs a very international scene. The Chinese place I saw on La Rambla made pizzas, as well, lol.
A few postmodern things Iīve seen: a large residential building, just a shade darker than royal blue, with white lines irregularly making their way around the windows. Each column and row of windows had a different combination of balconied and non-balconied apartments.
Then there was the mirror that doubled as a taxi metre - red digital figures flashed on the right hand side of the mirror on the front window, only slightly obscuring the view.
A restraunt called American: Soda which uses old-fashioned representations of ladies holding up a banner upon the words are written (without the : this time).
Designer graffiti on the shutter of a shop with elaborate, chunky classically rendered font at the top.
In other words, Iīm in heaven. My senses have been tickled and my imagination re-awakened.
Only one more day to go... I wonder what it will bring.
When I got home I caught up on the latest news in the presidential race, and I think Barack is starting to grow on me. Gawd knows why- the most progressive he is in regards to gay rights is to support civil unions. Then again, Hillary isnīt much better. I do think BO has a more youthful, playful style, and I get really sick of the way Hillary forces her words out. Anyone want to tell me who of these two they prefer, and why?
We had tickets to Elektra, the opera at the Grand Theatre Liceu, but dad didnīt want to watch anything sad so he suggested we leave. I was only too happy to do so, as opera isnīt my thing. Rock opera, maybe. The highlight of the experience was making our way up to the first floor (i.e. second floor if yóuīre in Australia), which is a masterpiece of jade and gold, with frescoes on the ceilings.
Before that, we dined at a very patriotic Italian restraunt called Bello Italy (the table decor was green, white and red) which had a set menu for seven euros. They also sold tapas, and provided french fries, but I guess thatīs part of being in Barcelona- itīs a very international scene. The Chinese place I saw on La Rambla made pizzas, as well, lol.
A few postmodern things Iīve seen: a large residential building, just a shade darker than royal blue, with white lines irregularly making their way around the windows. Each column and row of windows had a different combination of balconied and non-balconied apartments.
Then there was the mirror that doubled as a taxi metre - red digital figures flashed on the right hand side of the mirror on the front window, only slightly obscuring the view.
A restraunt called American: Soda which uses old-fashioned representations of ladies holding up a banner upon the words are written (without the : this time).
Designer graffiti on the shutter of a shop with elaborate, chunky classically rendered font at the top.
In other words, Iīm in heaven. My senses have been tickled and my imagination re-awakened.
Only one more day to go... I wonder what it will bring.
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