Art is very subjective; certain pieces provoke feeling and others don´t. It could be that those which evoke feeling have something; soul…a soul that is similar to yours and for this reason, it excites you, inspires you, makes you feel. Not all pieces from the same artist reach me, but it´s true that there are many from this artist, born in Cremona, that inspire me. Who is this woman of such clear complexion who looks at us sideways, dressed in lynx fur and shiny ruby rings? Why, for years, was the authorship of this work accredited to Greco, Sanchez Coello…

I think it was summer because it was hot in the rooms of the Hermitage. I had spent several days without even leaving my adored seventeenth century, when I found myself with Kees Van Dongen. It was a ¨coup de foudre¨ and since then, every time I see one of his paintings, my heart skips a beat. Kees was born in Delfshaven in 1877, a suburb of Rotterdam. Showing early artistic promise, he studied in the evenings at the Académie des Beaux-Arts of Rotterdam from 1892 to 1897. In 1899, van Dongen settled in Paris. What Andy Warhol was to…

One month ago, Alicia Forneri and I discussed the influence of Spanish folklore in the artistic movements around the world. So, here is her post about it… While it is true that there have been  great travelers from Spain, and that our country has made a significant contribution to the discovery and description of other peoples and cultures, it is also to be noted that  especially in the nineteenth century, we were the ones who woke up the curiosity of travelers from the rest of Europe. The nineteenth -century romantic look became the root for the creation of many Spanish…

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, Japanese art became very appealing to and influential on the West. Known as Japonisme, this fascination represents one of the richest and most productive artistic and cultural phenomena in the relationship between East and West. The reopening of Japanese ports in the 1860s marked the birth of Japonisme, which eventually became one of the most important and essential elements of artistic modernity in Europe during the latter half of the 1800s. Japonisme went far beyond a simple, superficial interpretation based on the popularity of exotic forms and orientalist themes. Not only did it provide subjects,…

Refletions on the new exposition in the Thyssen Museum   Many, who have visited expositions with me, have heard me talk about surrealism. From my personal opinion, surrealism started in Bosco´s Garden of the Delicias in 1503 and continues with Arcimboldo´s ¨Spring¨in 1563 – which we can find in the magnificent Academy of Bellas Artes of San Fernando. It is from there that we can divulge into the whimsical works of Goya, before putting ourselves in front of the surrealism of the 20th century. In Spain, to speak of surrealism is to speak of  Salvador Dalí   Dalí arrived to Madrid…