The trip to Malaga had been booked since January. The last time I was there it had been for an International Marketing conference with Yves Rocher - that’s going back +30 years. I have one very vivid memory. A group of us had gone down to the beach after dinner and come back to my room. I don’t remember how many we were. A rather alcoholic evening has wiped that out. Even so I rang down for a bottle of champagne. 30 minutes later a boy brought up a « bottle of shampoo » on a tray. The howls of laughter still ring in my ears…..it was a memorable moment for another reason too. Quite obviously, the Spanish were not too good at languages. Champagne and Shampoo may sound alike….but. 30 years later and after many trips to Spain, the Spaniards are not linguists and as before, this trip would prove me right. Even a young lass at the reception of my very good hotel, had to ask someone to translate what I had asked for.
« Could I leave my luggage here? ». There is so much I love about Spain and yet I could do without the Spanish yelling at me in Spanish just because I can’t understand a word of what they are saying. Sure, I have a serious blockage for that language as I did take courses for over a year only to find that the company I was working with only spoke in Catalan which is a far cry from Spanish.
There is so much to see and do in Spain. This time I had booked because of the Picasso museum. Picasso was born in Malaga and a beautiful building houses paintings he chose and the same never leave Spain. That was enough to get me there. The house where he was born is also open to the public - that too would be a must. I arrived at my hotel on the Tuesday and was in the museum by 3pm. There must have been a homing pigeon showing me the way as it was a 20 minute from from the hotel and I only got lost once!
I think you will see it on this map plus the list of museums there were to see in Malaga shown on the wall of the museum. Even you may feel that the indications are not as clear as all that.
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| Tourist Map of Malaga |
From the outside, the museum is unobtrusive. The inside garden is quite attractive but then I got a shock. NO photos and there were enough dragons around to make it impossible and what I found out some three hours later, NO catalogue either. So postcards were the only solution.
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| Facade of the Museum Picasso |
The foundation’s main objective is to organize the circulation and preservation of Picasso’s work. The collection here is breathtaking. It’s organized to focus on thematic issues that are important aspects of Picasso’s legacy. Quite a few are in relationship with Malaga. That’s to say his very early works. The collection spans 8 decades of his career. As also you wonder if he ever stopped. There is so much that I saw that of course I had never seen before. His last painting was completed on the eve of his death on the 8th April 1973.
There are 233 works in the MPM collection. 43 further works by Pablo Picasso are on temporary loan, through a fifteen-year agreement with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (FABA).I guess that this means that there are 190 paintings which have not been seen elsewhere and perhaps never will be.
The Picasso museum in Paris (
MY BELOVED PICASSO -I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS - ) certainly gives an easier route to follow his work. In Malaga, very quickly you are thrown into the diversity, the different techniques and of course his woman. I’ve said it before, I feel he was pretty violent in his physical approach to women and cast them aside when someone more interesting, more beautiful or ? turned up. Here is what I discovered……….
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| First painting when he was 8 |
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| Olga 1923 |
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| Self portrait-1917 |
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| 1923 - Baby with toy |
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| 1953 - Plate |
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| 1947 |
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| Pierro - 1969 |
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| Man with beard - 1964 |
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| 1896-97 - he was 16 |
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| 1962 |
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| Françoise - 1945 : Both faces come to life |
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| Juan Les Pins - 1931 |
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| First trials for "Avignon" 1920 |
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| Bust of a woman - 1939 |
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| 1946 |
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| 1971 |
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| woman sleeping -1933 |
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| 1919 |
The walk back to the hotel seemed to go by in a flash. My mind was elsewhere. What I had seen was quite enough to digest on the first day. Tomorrow there would be his house and then onto the Carmen Thyssen museum. The latter I discovered upon my return was from the same family but that the Madrid museum had many more modern paintings.
As the Thyssen was open at 9-30, I was there at 10 letting the first crowds into the centre before I arrived. Yet, I was alone….I later found out that museum visiting in Malaga was from midday onwards with a good break at lunchtime. Remember in Spain that this around 3pm.
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| Court yard |
The Carmen Thyssen Museum (Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga) main focus of the museum is 19th-century Spanish painting, predominantly Andalusian, (based on the collection of Carmen Cervera, third wife of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza).
Since 1992 the Thyssen family's art collection has been on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. However, Carmen Thyssen has been an art collector in her own right since the 1980s, and her personal collection is shown separately. In 1999, she agreed to display many items from her collection in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum for a period of twelve years. Meanwhile, a home for her collection was sought in Málaga. This museum, a conversion of a sixteenth-century building, opened to the public on 24 March 2011. So, as you can see, it is quite recent. Once again it did not stand out but I found it quite easily in the old town.
Until I got there, I didn’t know that it was 19th century. Even the actual exhibition « Summer Days » was from that period. As you know, it’s not really mine. So the little I have to show for my visit will not surprise you. However, it was halfway through the 1800's that the bourgeoisie discovered the coast as a new social and leisure setting. It immediately becomes part of their life style with visits to sea resorts, spas and of course a new fashion in clothing. The painting I really did like was the Edward Hopper, but that is no surprise, it was painted in 1944!
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| ad for Pears Soap |
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| Edward Hopper 1944 |
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| Summer |
There were other paintings too that had a great deal of charm....
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| Ajouter une légende |
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| Munoz Degrain - Seascape 1905-10 |
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| Garreta - Model Making mischief (!!!) 1885 |
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| Sanchez-Perrier - Winter in Andlusia - 1880 |
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| Ramos - Spanish Courting - 1885 |
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| Velazquez - Madrid - 1817-70 |
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| Velazquez - Maja with lap dog-1865 |
Now I would wend my way to the Picasso Foundation. Even if it seemed to be clearly marked, the arrows indicated a way which didn’t quite follow my logic. I did see this square and the theatre and must have actually walked by the building…..
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| The foundation is just behind |
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| The theatre |
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| Foundation Picasso |
The building where he was born on October the 25th 1881 and lived until 1884 houses works and personal belongings of the artist and his family. There was some information about the family, which I have since forgotten and even reading the small brochure afterwards did not particularly enthuse me. The stroll around the house with a group of very noisy Spanish teenagers who were quite out of control made my visit much shorter.
A little stroll around the old city. Churches can't be missed and if I don’t know their names, one of thing was sure, they were not apparently of interest to tourists, except perhaps for the Cathedral which was baroque (as most of the churches I saw were) and filled with believers. Fortunately the tourists were discreet and not rushing around taking photographs or disrupting prayer.
The old town has a lot of charm but what spoils such places in my book today are the number of International shops which are planted at every corner so it would seem. It breaks the atmosphere but from what I could see, they were clearly more interesting to the tourists than the museums or the churches.
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| Seen from the street |
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| Inside a baroque setting |
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| Outside |
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| Wandering and looking up |
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| Narrow streets and lovely pavements |
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| Inside the Cathedral |
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| and again |
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| can you see the crown? |
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| The dome |
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| Another spectacular crow |
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| Seen from the outside |
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| Republican square |
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| Looking up at the cathedral |
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| Very ornate |
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| Royalty came through this door |
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| But not throught this one |
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| It could have been Bacon (François) |
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| A |
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| There it is |
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| I needed a rest |
The day was slipping away pleasantly so now it would be a good time to visit the Contemporary art museum which was only a short distance from my hotel. At least it was clearly indicated even if the facade was not so impressive.
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| The Contemprary Art Museum Ad |
My goodness, I couldn’t believe my eyes…..two artists which I admire very much. ADEL ABDESSEMED’S first solo exhibition in Malaga along with the first YAN PEI-MING exhibition ever held in a Spanish Museum. Both artists we have seen before and both I have followed for quite sometime.
Without any warning, you enter into this gallery
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| Picasso |
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| Picasso in Malaga, 2015 |
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| Pape Innocent X, 2013 |
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| Night Dog - 2015 |
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| Innocence, 2008 |
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| Bernard Madoff, 2009 |
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| Self portraits, 2006 |
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| Survivors, 2008 |
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| One of the above picture, 2006 |
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| Wild game First way of the Tiger, 2014 |
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| 2008 |
The body of works that form the collection today comprise a journey through the different artistic movements and trends that characterise the 20th century, with particular attention to the final decades.
What is interesting, or was for me, is that the permanent collection features works particularly from the 1950s to the present, including work by such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Art & Language, Olafur Eliasson, Thomas Hirschhorn, Damian Hirst, Julian Opie, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth. Although I could have taken photos of everything, I didn’t but just the work I liked.
Similarly, special attention is given to Spanish art since the 1980s, including works by local artists who have helped to spread Andalusian art. The list of Spanish artists includes such outstanding names as Victoria Civera, Juan Muñoz, José María Sicilia, Miquel Barceló, Santiago Sierra and Juan Uslé. And you have guessed right. Apart from Barcelo and a couple of other names which seemed to ring a bell, I didn’t know much about the artists in question.
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| Marina Vargas, Smith & Wesson , 2011 |
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| José Luis Puche, 2013 |
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| José Carlos Naranjo, 2012 |
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| Javier Calleja, Not alone drawing, 2008 |
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| Chema Lumbreras, 2001 |
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| MP & MP Rosado, Intimidated, 2002 |
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| Manuel Leon, 2012 |
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| Paco Sanguino, 2013 |
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| Juanma Reyes, Pole, 2012 |
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| Part of pole |
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| Miquel Barcelo - 1992 |
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| Andy Warhol, Blackglama (Judy Garland) 1985 |
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| Andy Warhol,Rebel without a cause, 1985 |
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| Basquiat, Warhol, Clement, 1984 |
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| Louise Bourgeois, Mother and Child, 2001 |
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| Michel François, Blown glass, 2006 |
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| Matthew Ritchier, The Sailor Who fell from Grace with the sea (2004-2005) |
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| José Manuel Broto - 1987 |
But let’s go back to the two temporary exhibitions, even if the photographs are above.....
Yan Pei-Ming (Shanghai, 1960) This exhibition is called « No Comments » and is very appropriate. It feature 27 works by the French painter, as although his roots are Chinese, he was born in France and this was his first solo show at a Spanish museum. His paintings—most of them large format—are characterized by thick, violent strokes on the canvas and a sparse use of colours, limited to black, white and red. The artist paints portraits of prominent politicians, economists and religious figures, although some of his subjects are unknown or anonymous.
As you can see, they are large but not overpowering as the space is such that they can breathe. You can also see, that I had the museum to myself for over an hour and then the first late afternoon visitors, started straggling in....
« Birth is violent. Death is violent. Violence is everywhere, except in my soul.”
This idea has been voiced by Adel Abdessemed (Constantine, Algeria, 1971) on more than one occasion when discussing his work. « Palace » is the title of this exhibition consisting of three sculpture pieces and a stuffed and mounted animal. The artist resorts to violence as an expressive tool for exploring themes such as religion and politics through art. I will be quite frank, I didn’t see this in the works even if Adel Abdessemed sees the potential beauty of violence as an effective means of expression and source of energy. He is a multidisciplinary artist who works with sculpture, installation, photography, video, and drawing. We saw him at the biennale in Venise, I saw him in Metz and I think in Brussels.
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| Adel Abdessemed - Palace |
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| The abominable Vase, 2013 |
It was late when I returned to the hotel and my head was humming. No doubt about it that this museum or The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga as I should call it, had been the highlight of my day.
On my stroll back to the hotel I saw a large sign on a bus talking about the Centre du Beaubourg which had recently been opened. In April. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Could this be true? Another big discovery? That would be first thing tomorrow morning. Finding it on Internet was much harder than could be believed, so I would resort to asking the reception. The young man, who’s English was about as good as my Spanish made me understand after a lot of signs and indications on the map that it was close to the port. I gathered some 20 minutes on foot from the hotel. As I was folding the map, he added « and del Museo Ruso » I answered him with a rather blind look only to understand that he was now taking about a local « Hermitage collection ». Another discovery. As he circled the museum on the map, he then insisted that I would need to take a taxi from the Beaubourg.
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| Outside |
The council of Malaga has spent €100m on the arts in past 10 years to seduce visitors interested in culture to pay a visit to Malaga. In 2015 two new museums were added to the all ready impressive list of cultural exhibitions, namely Centro Pompidou and Museo Russo.
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| Inside |
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| Inside |
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| The Port |
There has been so much talk and all political about the Beaubourg in France but I had seen absolutely no mention about an antenna in Malaga.But now I know that it is costing Picasso’s birthplace €11 million over five years to host a temporary Centre Pompidou. The outlay includes €5 million for El Cubo, the 6,300 square metre building near the port, a €1 million per annum royalty fee, and €1 million in entrance fees. On top of that the city will also have to cover the exhibition and overhead costs in return for exhibiting the works by Bacon, de Chirico, Giacometti, Léger, Calder, Magritte, Baselitz, Tapiès, and Tinguely on loan from Beaubourg, as the Centre Pompidou is known as in France. How’s that for starters….and by the time I arrived it was 10pm. There was the port and there was the cube and no-one in sight. Could I be lucky again ?
Although the collection is divided into 5 sections , Metamorphoses starting off with a Picasso: Self-Portrait: The Man without a Face: The Political Body (which I gave a miss. In the 60’s a whole generation of engaged artists condemned the way women were traditionally represented. Womens’ narration is not particular attractive unless you approve of deformed bodies and the such like,) and The Body in Pieces.
Let’s call it a collection which offers a journey through the 20th and 21st century. Illustrations, sculptures, installations….which have been created from artists all over the world. It’s a magnificent collection, surprising as there are messages even if they are controversial and disturbing at times, like the theme on women….I wandered around in a rather aimless fashion, coming back on works or an installation which was questioned me, not to mention another « upside down » Basalitz and then what do you think I found……..
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| John Currin, The Moroccan, 2001 |
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| Picasso, Woman's head, 1931 |
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| Picasso, Woman's head, 1931 |
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| Kees Van Dongen, Self Portrait as Neptune, 1922 |
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| Frida Kahlo, The Frame, 1938 |
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| Bram Van Velde, Glauque, 1957 |
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| Eugène Leroy, Self Portrait, Search for Volume, 2003 |
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| Francis Bacon, Self portrait, 1971 |
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| Zoran Music, Self Portrait, 1988 |
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| Raoul Dufy, Self portrait, 1948 |
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| Julio Gonzalez, Last Autoportrait, 1941-2 |
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| Henri Le Fauconnier, Self Portrait, 1933 |
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| Jean Tinguely, Self Portrait, 1988 |
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| Jean Tinguely, Self Portrait, 1988 |
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In actual fact it was one of his machine.....
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| Tony Oursler, Swith 1996 (part of an installation) |
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| Jean Miro, Femme, 1969 |
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| Jean Miro, Femme, 1969 |
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| Thomas Schütte, Great Spirit, 1996 |
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| Thomas Schütte, Great Spirit, 1996 |
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| Jean Dubuffet, The Irish Jig, 1986 |
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| The Body In Pieces |
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| René Magritte, Memory of a journey, 1926 |
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| Victor Brauner, The Trainer, 1962 |
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| Francis Picabia, Figure and Flowers, 1935/43 |
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| The Body In Pieces |
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| The Body In Pieces |
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| George Baselitz, The Girls From Olmo ll, 1982 |
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| Part of the Installation, Switch |
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| Barry Flanagan, Soprano, 1981 |
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| Graham Sutherland, Standing Form, 1952 |
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| Ferran Garcia Sevilla, Pariso, 1985 |
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| Antonio Tapies, Legs, 1975 |
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| William De Kooning, untitled, 1976 |
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| Picasso, Couple 1971 |
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| Zush, The Girls of my Lofe, 1987-88 |
Jean Miro’s work.
(April 20,1893 – December 25,1983) was a world renowned Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramist who was born in the sea port city of Barcelona. I have always identified his work with the sun, his personages and that’s what he called them….this time though in a not so small retrospective of his work, there was a lot I didn’t like. Laurent would laugh as there were many squiggles which didn’t do anything for me. There was one painting which was so out of his area that I really went back to look at it to make sure it was a Miro - « Landscape » - fascinating as it seemed to be so minimalist in comparison with a lot of his other work.
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| Landscape, 1979 |
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| Bird Figure, 1979 |
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| Figure and bird, 1962 |
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| Ajouter une légende |
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| Ajouter une légende |
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| Woman bird, 1976 |
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| Woma, Birds in the Night, 1975 |
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| Figure, birds, 1976 |
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| Dog, 1977 |
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| Dog in a Forest, 1974 |
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| Figures Guided Toward a Starr by Birds without wings, 1979 |
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| Figures and bird, 1962 |
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| Figure and Birds, 1969 |
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| Untitled, 1973 |
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| Untitled, 1979 |
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| Untitled, 1973 |
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| Black marks, 1973 |
Beaubourg had made me feel good. Just at the port did and finding the beach but with a swell of water that crashed onto the sand that looked somewhat alarming. As you can see, there were not too many people bathing….even if in the sun it was 28°.
Ah now an ice-cream would be a good idea before my last stop. Del Museo Ruso.
This time the receptionist’s gestures had worked. He was right. The museum was a taxi ride away with a woman driving at a hair rising speed. I gave her a handsome tip as not only had she understood my poor Spanish, but had answered me in an equally broken English « museum Ruuushhhe » She had at least made an effort.
The setting was divine.
The Hermitage has installed some 100 or more works which are representative tracing the evolution of Russian Paintings from the icons (since the 11th through to the 16th and 17th) to mid 20th century. We do know how much Catherine the Great did for Russian culture and the paintings of her period reflect this. Some of the portrait were enchanting. Romantic yes and yet other such as this featured a reality which was not so easy to bare.
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| Grigory Kuchin, 1778 |
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| Dimitry Levitsky, Catherine ll, 116 |
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| Vladimir Borovikovski, Anna Bezobrazova, 1970's |
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| Karl Briulov, Bathsheba, 1830's |
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| Aleksei Venetsianov, Dairy Maid, 1826 |
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| Nikolai Bogdanov-Belski, At the doors of a school, 1897 |
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| Vasili Maksimof, Blind Master, 1884 |
However, there was little of the early modern art which I enjoy so much. Kandinsky, the early Mondrian, Rozanova….
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| Olga Rozanove, City Landscape, 1910 |
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| Ilia Mashikov, City Landscape, 1911 |
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| Kandinsky, Composition with white border, 1913 |
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| Aleksandro Rodchenko, Constuction, 1917 |
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| Malevich |
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| Chagall, Mirror, 1915 |
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| Malevich, 1928-32 |
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| Filonov, Two Heads, 1922 |
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| Natalia Goncharova, White Frost, 1910-11 |
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| Nikolai Beorich, The Rite of Springs, 1913 (A Scene set) |
and by the time we reached the propaganda of the Lenin and Stalin periods….factories, collective farms, peasants all of which were the protagonists of the socialist-realist paintings, I could take no more.
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| Nathan Altman, self portrait, 1911 |
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| Boris Grigoriev, Portrait of the Collector Alexander Korovin, 1916 |
Yes, I was at saturation point and there was no need for me to go on looking at paintings which no longer touched me. What will remain though after the two visits is the cultural continuity across time and the abrupt change which attest an abiding national identity - Russia.
Malaga had been wonderful.....I felt full of energy. Would it continue?
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