Today marks three weeks since we started our epic tour of the Basque regions of France and Spain. Time has flown by and we now only have a couple of weeks left.
Our stay in Bilbao was always planned but it has worked out very well that it coincides with a couple of rainy days. Although it was not raining in the morning it was pretty wet in the afternoon. What is better than going to a museum on a cloudy, rainy day? And when you are in Bilbao, that museum has to be the Guggenheim Museum.
We bought tickets on line for what we thought was a very reasonable 13 euros for the two of us. Age discounted, of course! The museum opened at 10:00 and we had a scheduled time of 10:30 but I do not think that may have mattered as there were few people there when we arrived. The building still looks futuristic with its titanium steel cladding 26 years after it was first opened. It has a bit of a Canadian connection as it was designed by Canadian born Frank Gehry - although later in life he lived in the States.
Our coffee stop. Scott`s espresso on the left and Pat`s cappuccino on the right. Even with the addition of milk and chocolate for Pat`s coffee, it is only about 20 cents more.
Sculpture of women pulling a barge up stream. From the web, ¨According to oral tradition, theirs was a race of hard-working, courageous women who were forced to accept this work because their husbands fought as soldiers in the Carlist wars and men were scarce in Bilbao. They found no other alternative to support their families. They belonged to the lower classes of society, they had no choice. Instead of being respected for their work, in addition to being exploited, they became vilified and stigmatized.¨
The iconic Puppy sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons. Interesting fact: Two years ago, work began on the remodeling of the irrigation system. Due to the museum's lack of funds the Guggenheim organized crowdfunding to cover the one hundred thousand euros necessary for the updates. The flowers are now changed every six months.
Scott AndersonInteresting. We were here six years ago and Puppy looked pretty dehydrated then. We were surprised at how colorful he was again last month. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
We found the contemporary art inside the Guggenheim to be interesting but a bit lost on us. We ruefully admit that we have zero art background and many of the Picasso pieces had has laughing as to what they maybe valued at today. We think that most people would walk right by a number of these pieces on the street and never think twice. Glad that we went, but once will do it. As the weather deteriorated and the day reached noon, the museum got very busy and we took that as our cue to head back to our room and regroup.
Richard Serra`s Time is several huge free standing curved metal structures. It is massive and takes up a very large room. In his own words, ¨It is a non narrative, discontinuous, fragmented, de-centred, disorienting¨ Amen.
Keith AdamsI'm an absolute Philistine when it comes to modern so-called "art". I just don't get it and it, and the accompanying namby-pamby artspeak mumbo-jumbo, nearly always irritates me. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
Yayoi Kusama`s Infinity Mirrored Room 2020 is a disco ball on steroids. Four people go into a mirrored room at one time with a multiple coloured light display. There is a timer and when it rings after about two minutes the door opens and it is time leave. It really is quite wild.
Our afternoon walk was to the Mercado de la Ribera which is noted to be the largest indoor market in Europe. Checking the weather forecast, Pat decided to add the Arteryx shell and Scott decided to go out in a polo shirt and shorts. Just outside the hotel it was showering and by the time we reached the market we were happy to have shelter. It was warm and Scott dried quickly inside. It was now near closing time at 2pm and the meat, seafood, cheese and vegetable vendors on the top floor were putting everything away. A number of the fish stalls were continuing to sell their products. The first floor of the market was full of tapas bars and they were doing a booming business on this rainy Saturday afternoon.
Pat in the thick of things checking out the pintxos offerings. We had about eight and a couple of beer for lunch. So many types of the little, bite sized delicacies!
We dodged the late afternoon rain in and out of covered areas on our short walk back to the hotel. In the evening we took the Funicular de Artxanda to the top of Mount Artxanda. It was a bit disappointing as the views would have been fantastic but it was dark and wet with no real signs of life. We took the next tram down and enjoyed a light, late snack and a beer. A total of 20K steps were racked up before retiring for the day.
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Bill ShaneyfeltMy dad was an art teacher. He had many expensive books of artworks of the masters. He did not seem to have a high opinion of Picasso, nor did I. Funny thing though, my youngest daughter is working on her PHD in some kind of art history. She graduated from John Cabot U. in Rome, and later worked for several years as a tour guide at the NYC Gugenheim museum. I was not highly impressed when we visited. I guess you just gotta have the right taste to enjoy the currently so-called art. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
Keith AdamsWill you be connecting with the Branhams? They're in Bilbao as well- in fact I was momentarily confused because I read their daily entry (complete with a tour of the Guggenheim) just before rearing yours, and was thinking "They just covered this!" until I realized I was reading a different author. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
Jacquie GaudetI had the same reaction to the Guggenheim—loved the architecture but couldn’t appreciate the “art”. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
