Sabbatical 9/02 - Fundació Joan Miró
The day before I went to the Museo Picasso. Today I would climb the Montjuic and visit another single artist museum, the Fundació Joan Miró. Ok, so "climb" is a bit of a stretch; I took a funicular, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
By unofficial tourist custom, every day in Barcelona has to involve Gaudí in some way. I hit my quote for the day by walking past Palau Güell, which was one of Gaudí's early commissions from the industrialist Eusebi Güell. I suspect that Güell is most famous today for being a patron of Gaudí, which just goes to show that if you want your name to live forever supporting an artist is a better bet than most. Anyway, I opted not to take the tour but saw some of the interesting adornments on the exterior of the house, which is very close to La Rambla.
The Fundació Joan Miró is one of many buildings on Montjuic hill. It's rather steep, especially compared to the majority of Barcelona, which is quite flat. Fortunately, the extensive Barcelona subway system has a funicular which arrives very close to the museum. As you'd expect from the name, most of the exhibits focus on Joan Miró, but works from other artists were also on display, most notably Alexander Caldwell's Mercury Fountain and assorted temporary exhibits. As Miró's art appeals to me, I enjoyed the Fundació a great deal.
The Fundació is next to the extensive Jardins de Laribal, which feature dramatic views north over the city. After I wandered through the gardens I found myself on the front steps of the Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya. I had decided that one art museum per day was my limit, and the nearby facilities from the 1992 Olympics didn't interest me, so instead I headed down the steps toward the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. This impressively large fountain, as well as much of the rest of the area, was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
I passed the Four Columns, which were originally erected as a symbol of Catalan nationalism. Although Barcelona is in Spain, there is a very active political movement for independence, or at least autonomy, and I saw far more Catalan flags than Spanish flags in Barcelona. In any event, the original columns were torn down by the Spanish government in 1928, but were put back up in 2010.
Finally, I walked past the Venetian Towers, and was on Plaza Espana. A large fountain is at the center of the square. I continued north to Parc Joan Miro, where his large sculpture Woman and Bird towers over the park.
After lunch and a siesta I went out on foot again. This time I headed east to the Parc de la Ciutadella. To get there I had to pass under the Arc de Triomf, which dates from the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
Parc de la Ciutadella isn't as large at Central Park, but it's more than large enough to accommodate a wide variety of landmarks. I particularly liked the Font de la cascada which is an enormous ornate fountain with sculptures everywhere. It's so big my house would fit in it twice over. There's also the Castle of the Three Dragons, which houses a museum and is topped with ornate blue and white tiles. There's also a zoo, a natural history museum and a large lake that you can paddle around on.
I was now very close to the beaches, so I saw no reason not to walk along them. I passed the Frank Gehry Fish that was built for the Olympics and now decorates a casino. I passed El Cap de Barcelona, which was made by Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Olympics (a recurring theme, clearly). It's right next to The Gambrinus by Javier Mariscal, which I think of as the happy lobster. Mariscal also created the mascot for the Olympics.
It was late, and I was hungry, so got paella at a place that was in retrospect too touristy. At this point I was right by the Travel Bar so I went back in and had a nightcap. From there I walked back up La Rambla to take some nighttime shots of Plaça de Catalunya. From there I returned to my hotel, because I had to pack for my departure the next day.
Photos fifty-seven through ninety-seven in this set are from September 2.
This article was pre-recorded; I am away from the internet.
By unofficial tourist custom, every day in Barcelona has to involve Gaudí in some way. I hit my quote for the day by walking past Palau Güell, which was one of Gaudí's early commissions from the industrialist Eusebi Güell. I suspect that Güell is most famous today for being a patron of Gaudí, which just goes to show that if you want your name to live forever supporting an artist is a better bet than most. Anyway, I opted not to take the tour but saw some of the interesting adornments on the exterior of the house, which is very close to La Rambla.
The Fundació Joan Miró is one of many buildings on Montjuic hill. It's rather steep, especially compared to the majority of Barcelona, which is quite flat. Fortunately, the extensive Barcelona subway system has a funicular which arrives very close to the museum. As you'd expect from the name, most of the exhibits focus on Joan Miró, but works from other artists were also on display, most notably Alexander Caldwell's Mercury Fountain and assorted temporary exhibits. As Miró's art appeals to me, I enjoyed the Fundació a great deal.
The Fundació is next to the extensive Jardins de Laribal, which feature dramatic views north over the city. After I wandered through the gardens I found myself on the front steps of the Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya. I had decided that one art museum per day was my limit, and the nearby facilities from the 1992 Olympics didn't interest me, so instead I headed down the steps toward the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. This impressively large fountain, as well as much of the rest of the area, was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
I passed the Four Columns, which were originally erected as a symbol of Catalan nationalism. Although Barcelona is in Spain, there is a very active political movement for independence, or at least autonomy, and I saw far more Catalan flags than Spanish flags in Barcelona. In any event, the original columns were torn down by the Spanish government in 1928, but were put back up in 2010.
Finally, I walked past the Venetian Towers, and was on Plaza Espana. A large fountain is at the center of the square. I continued north to Parc Joan Miro, where his large sculpture Woman and Bird towers over the park.
After lunch and a siesta I went out on foot again. This time I headed east to the Parc de la Ciutadella. To get there I had to pass under the Arc de Triomf, which dates from the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
Parc de la Ciutadella isn't as large at Central Park, but it's more than large enough to accommodate a wide variety of landmarks. I particularly liked the Font de la cascada which is an enormous ornate fountain with sculptures everywhere. It's so big my house would fit in it twice over. There's also the Castle of the Three Dragons, which houses a museum and is topped with ornate blue and white tiles. There's also a zoo, a natural history museum and a large lake that you can paddle around on.
I was now very close to the beaches, so I saw no reason not to walk along them. I passed the Frank Gehry Fish that was built for the Olympics and now decorates a casino. I passed El Cap de Barcelona, which was made by Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Olympics (a recurring theme, clearly). It's right next to The Gambrinus by Javier Mariscal, which I think of as the happy lobster. Mariscal also created the mascot for the Olympics.
It was late, and I was hungry, so got paella at a place that was in retrospect too touristy. At this point I was right by the Travel Bar so I went back in and had a nightcap. From there I walked back up La Rambla to take some nighttime shots of Plaça de Catalunya. From there I returned to my hotel, because I had to pack for my departure the next day.
Photos fifty-seven through ninety-seven in this set are from September 2.
This article was pre-recorded; I am away from the internet.