Fallas is Valencia’s annual street festival featuring thousands of fabulous sculptures up to 5 stories in height, such as these from the El Pilar Fallas. Each sculpture, these days made using light weight foam over a wood frame, is created by a local organization, also called a Fallas. They raise money from a variety of sources. These large sculptures require funds in the six figures. They are up for 4-5 days then burned, and work is begun on the following years’ sculptures.
The festival also features fabulous fireworks. See photos in the next post.
My contribution to the L’Art de Career (Valenciano for Art on the Street) in Picanya, a small town on the south side of Valencia. It was sponsored by the Women of Picanya http://www.picanya.org/persones/dones/activitats. There are about 50 pieces hanging from the balconies celebrating women through March 20 2022.
Here are my comments:
Vivir tus sueños (Live Your Dreams)
This expressionist piece is about living our dreams, our desire to become who we want to be, to accomplish what we want to accomplish. We all seek the path we find most attractive.
Expressionism rejects the restrictions of realism while remaining largely figurative- you can recognize the object even if it’s not realistic. It also can include abstract elements. Here there are four women, two playing musical instruments, one singing. The fourth dreams of her possibilities. Not all the figures are attractive- beauty is not a requirement for success. There are two muses in the upper left and a third on the bottom left. They inspire the dreams.
The dreams of our youth influence the rest of our life. Those of our mature years, our 30’s and 40’s, are increasingly influenced by experience. As we continue to age, we tend to become more realistic but still can have our dreams, guiding our later years.
Vivir tus sueños (Live Your Dreams)
Esta obra expresionista trata el tema de los sueños que las personas tenemos, nuestras ganas de ser quien queremos ser, de lograr lo que queremos lograr. Cada uno de nosotros busca la libertad de seguir el camino que más nos atrae.
El Expresionismo rechaza las restricciones del realismo, y por eso nos permite explorar formas y figuras con menos límites. En esta obra, se ve a cuatro mujeres, dos que tocan instrumentos musicales, otra que baila. La cuarta mujer sueña con las posibilidades. También se ve a dos musas a la izquierda y otra al fondo quienes le inspiran a ella. Las musas vuelan en su mundo, invitándonos a explorar mundos nuevos.
Los sueños de nuestra juventud influyen al resto de nuestra vida. Los sueños de nuestros días más maduros, en torno a la edad de 30 y 40 años, se ven más influenciados por las experiencias que hemos tenido, haciéndonos más realistas, y reconociendo nuestros límites. Según vamos envejeciendo, volvemos a explorar nuestros sueños de una forma menos condicionada, ya que, en este periodo tenemos más tiempo libre y posiblemente más recursos disponibles, los sueños nos guían otra vez.
Malaga has a large number of very good museums. We visited two on the Tuesday we arrived from Valencia, just a 45 minute flight from Valencia for the astounding price of 9 euros.
The Museo Automovilístico de Málaga has a large collection of expertly restored cars, and in an unusual twist, many are accompanied by fashions from the era. The owner of this private museum joined us for part of our visit, taking us beyond the ropes so we were able to get a close view of the interiors of several cars.
I love the dashboards of this era!
This post WWI car has an aviation engine
Dali inspired features on this 1930 Renault Francia
He told us he is looking for a new home, and is considering a move to Brooklyn, NY. He complains about the lack of government support in Malaga, and not enough visitors. He’s got a superb collection, the restorations done in his home country of Portugal.
In addition to the cars he’s exhibiting a find collection of high fashion, many of which match up with the cars they are displayed next to.
The Russian State Museum http://en.rusmuseum.ru/about/malaga/ has its main branch in St. Petersburg. We had the immense pleasure of visiting it during our month there. The branch is across the plaza from the car museum, housed in an old tobacco plant. The collection on the day of our visit lacked many of the better pieces to be found in St. Petersburg but still worth a visit. Here are two of the pieces I found more interesting.
The next day we hit a few more museums. First it was the Contemporary Art Museum, which sits along the river, entrance free amazingly enough.
Patricio Cabrera
Patricio Cabrera
Then we walked through the lovely old town, a pedestrian zone almost exclusively, to the Picasso Museum. Picasso was born here, but moved on to Paris in his early 20’s. There were something in excess of 100 of his paintings and drawings, whose unmistakable style which most people have seen before if they have seen any of his works at all. I found this one to be of greater interest than the others because the photo of the model, his wife at the time, Francoise Gilot, is posted with the painting. He did not do any drawing or painting as she posed for him. He stared for a good while and then told her she would not have to pose again. Take a look.
Woman in an Armchair, Picasso
Francoise Gilot
After a donor kabab and a bit of a rest we walked to the Museo del Vidrio y Cristal de Málaga https://www.museovidrioycristalmalaga.com/. We started the obligatory guided tour in Spanish with an expressive Spanish woman who took us up the stairs to start viewing some of the 3000+ pieces plus the furnishings of this private house. She explained that there are studio pieces and art pieces. The former is both designed and executed by the artist. Art pieces are those where the artist designs the piece but it is executed by a glass studio.
Founded by the Phonecians on what we now call the Guadalmedina River, Málaga is now home to the Picasso Museum and Museo Casa Natal (where he was born), the City Museum, the excellent car museum Museo Automovilístico de Málaga, the CAC (Contemporary Art), a branch of the Russian State Museum, Museo del Vidrio y Cristal de Málaga (Museum of Glass and Crystal) and more. There’s a Roman era theater, Moorish ruins and the amazing artifacts on display at the Museo del Patrimonio Municipal which also has a good art collection. Millions of visitors come each year to enjoy vacations on the Costa del Sol.
Here are a few examples of what’s on display at the Museo del Patrimonio:
Pottery dating to 5-7000 years ago
Beads from the same era, in amazing condition
Neanderthal jaw bone- note the lack of chin. At least 40,000 years old
Roman Theater, uncovered within the past 50 years. The Moorish era Alcazara in the background
The Cathedral of Malaga was built between 1528 and 1782 in the Renaissance style with many Baroque features as well. Its tower is 84 meters/276′ high.
