Touring the Palacio de Belles Artes

Inside the Palacio de Belles Artes. With Diego Rivera murals.

Mexico City, to its credit, is lousy with the murals of Diego Rivera. I'm an extreme amateur in the field of art history, but I don't believe there's a single artist more completely woven into the artistic fabric of a major city as Diego Rivera and Mexico City. And don't say Mozart and Vienna! I'm talking the visual arts here. Botero and Medellin is probably the only other candidate that comes to mind, but feel free to correct me as it is very likely I don't know what I'm talking about.

And one of the best places in Mexico City to see Diego Rivera murals is the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

But before we go inside, one look at the very non-Beethoven-looking Beethoven statue I mentioned the other day:

Again, what's so Beethoven about that Beethoven statue?

It's right beside the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is why I brought it up. And speaking of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the price of admission on Sundays is free. Gratis. My favorite price! The downside. It is packed elbow to elbow.

But it almost as packed with Diego Rivera murals as it is onlookers.

The murals are great. The architecture of the building is awesome.

But ... all those columns in front of the murals! It was not purpose-built for displaying the murals. 

The crowds don't help either.

But what did I expect on the free day?

Not everything is Diego Rivera, of course.  This work is titled "La piedad en el desierto," "Pieta in the Desert," by Manuel Rodriguez Lozano.

I liked it. Placing the pieta in a desert really adds to the sense of isolation.

Here is another mural:

And nearby was the sketch upon which the mural was based.

I wish there were more of those.

I assume this one is a reference to enslavement:

It's got to be,

This is one I struggled to get the right view:

This is titled "El tormento de Cuauhtémoc." The torture of Cuauhtémoc.

It's not a Diego Rivera, although it is his style, such as I understand that to be. This is by the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, from 1950-51.

This, however, is real Diego Rivera.

"Carnaval de la vida mexicana." Carnival of Mexican Life. From 1936. It's a tetraptych! This is the fourth panel:

New word for the day. A "tetraptych" is a four-section work of art. A diptych is two panels. Triptych is three panels. You knew those. But a tetraptych consists of four panels. Such as "Carnaval de la vida mexicana." 

A view of the interior of the dome:

My mouth and tongue got itchy just looking at this one.

(I recently discovered I'm allergic to pineapple. Very recently.)

And here is another view of "El tormento de Cuauhtémoc," this time looking down from the floor above to minimize the problems of (a) the concrete columns and (b) not being able to back up enough on the narrow walkways to get the whole Siqueiros mural in a single undistorted frame.

I really thought it was one of the more interesting works inside. Definitely the most interesting non-Diego Rivera work.

Taking in all of the floors of the interior:

This one caught my eye.

There was something about it that I thought was interesting. Then I looked and saw the name of the artist: Piet Mondrian. I knew Mondrian for his abstract expressionist paintings of lines with boxes painted yellow or red or blue. Turns out Mondrian can paint actual objects.

There were other galleries inside, such as an impressionist gallery. But no major works or major artists save for the murals on the interior walls. A great day at the museum. And an even better price of admission.

Stockholm Syndrome: Last Day in the City of Sticks

Sinful Swedes enter the mouth of the beast for their eternal damnation. Best guess as to their sin? Public nudity.

Today is my last day in the City of Stockholm proper. My major observation? I did not schedule enough time here. But you live and you learn. I did not know before I came. But I do now. This is very nice to visit. Lots to see. Lots to do. I would have been worth more time than I what I allocated.

And the sun finally came out, even though it was cold and rainy. This is Vasagatan in the sun.

I have an afternoon ferry boat to catch to my next destinaion, so that means I have time for one more tourist attraction before I set sail like a Viking on a mission of plunder.

And I will travel to that destination via Metro.

The Stockholm Metro is renowned for its vibrantly decorated stations. This is the station "T-Centralen." 

Not bad for a Metro station. Apparently there are others that are even more vibrant. But that will wait for another trip because my trip planner failed to schedule me for a sufficient amount of time in Stockholm. Which, by the way, did you know that the name "Stockholm" means "City of Sticks"?

My destination for my last day in Stockholm was the Swedish History Museum.

I know, that doesn't sound like "saving the best fot last." But the best museum in town is the Vasa, and I did that yesterday. And I love history. And I love learning about the history of the countries I visit.

The first collection viewed was the prehistoric era of Sweden:

The petroglyphs reproduced on the museum floor looked like something one would see in the Nevada desert. Valley of Fire, perhaps?

Bronze tools:

What's interesting is how primitive the area of modern-day Sweden was a couple of thousand years B.C., compared to ancient Egypt. (And, yes, it is "B.C." and not "B.C.E," because that's the way I roll. Respect my acronyms!) When Egypt was building the great pyramids, Sweden could make a decent bronze act. That's not a negative comment on prehistoric Sweden. It's an observation about how advanced was Egypt at that time, relative to the rest of the planet.

They did n't identify either object as a "rune stone," but I will surmise these are rune stones.

They did have a display about the runic alphabet, which was in a children's section. I'm not the curator. The decision was not mine. But adults are interested in the runic alphabet, too, aren't we?

I think this was from the section of Swedish history about the arrival of Christianity:

Scandinavia was a relative late comer to Christianity. It was converted only in the 11th Century. And it did not stay in communion with Rome for long, as it was swept up in the Protestant Reformation only a few hundred years later.

This is a reliquay of St. Bridget of Sweden.

She lived in the 14th Century, which was the time of the Black Death. Sweden's population was just about cut in half during the plague years.

This is, maybe, the most anguished-looking crufixion scene I've seen.

What was most interesting about this museum was the religious art and, most specifically, the religious art from the medieval period.

The art from the time of the Renaissance and from the Bqroque era is nice, but the painted wood carvings from the medieval period are particularly striking.

I really liked this Last Supper:

I'm guessing this figure is Judas Iscariot.

There are 12 disciples presented, so Judas would be present. This one is one of the few sitting on the opposite side of the table from Christ. And this is the only one depicted with his head in his hands. It's got to be Judas. As for the other 11, I do not have a clue. I don't even know, for certain, which one is which in the Leonardo da Vinci version, which, we all can agree, is the definitive Last Supper. But this is the best rendering in wood I've yet seen.

This is Thomas Becket. There was a cult about him in Sweden during its period of Roman Catholicism.

Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? King Henry II of England purportedly said of Thomas Becket, which prompted his murder. King Henrys and heads of the church in England named "Thomas" seems to make for a bad combination.

These are Saints Eric and Olaf:

Scandinavian martyrs. Depicted standing on the heads of their respective assassins.

And here is a pieta, in wood.

It's not Michelangelo. And this is not St. Peter's. But it's done well.

This one was a stunner:

As was this. We are getting progressively more lavish as the medieval period is about to transition into the Renaissance period.

The figures along the bottom are particularly nice. This is the Annunciation, where the Angel comes to Mary to tell her she will bear a child:

This is Mary's visit to her cousin, Elizabeth:

This is an unusually detailed circumcision of Christ:

And this is the presentment, which I thought was a more polite term for the circumcision but, at least according to this altarpiece, was a separate event.

Mary, with a crucifix from across the room artsily reflected on the artwork:

We then move into the Baroque period.

Again, as I said, nice, but no "wow" to it.

And while there was more museum I could've seen, it was time to go back to my hotel, collect my bags, and head for the ferry dock to be whisked away to my next destination.

This is the Klara Kyrka. seen in the rare Stockholm sun (rare at least on this visit).

And off I head to my ferry boat.

By way of the Slussen metro station, another of the artistically decorated metro stations of Stockholm, the City of Sticks.