First let the Creator our God speak: ‘ Please look/ Behold, I have given you every herb producing seed, which is on the face of the earth, and every tree, that has a fruit with a seed inside, this is your food. And to every animal in which there is life, (without the life of God nature would die), I, God, have given every green herb for food:’ and it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made, and , look/see/behold, it was very good. And evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:29-31
Our ultimate Creator God, ‘ Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth , and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’
Revelation 14: 7
Let us go into the Ludwig Museum. How shall we order this experience of a vast space with well separated strong personalities. Let us try using time. When they were created, by who and belonging to what ‘influence’.
It is first of all interesting to read this comment on a wall:
‘ On average, museum visitors stand in front of an artwork for 25 seconds. This is the measured time, not the experienced time.’
Roy said: ‘ Look, there that’s you and me.’ I looked and laughed, the old couple backs against the wall, looking out on the group. Where are you? Perhaps the waiter? One of the young women?
This is an expressionist Italian painter but he has another life he is a politician. His art is characterized by social and political commentary, he became the senator of two legislatures,from 1976 to 1983 during Berlinguer’s secretariat.
Who is he?
Renato Guttuso 1911- 1987 painter and politician.
Caffè Greco 1976
Expressionism
Colour and movement and line boldly exaggerates rather than depicts the natural world as it is. Press on the photograph and see the people boldly portrayed in their spaces.
Here is another example of expressionist work. Emil Nolde, one of the leading painters of the German Expressionist movement. Here is his 1925 Flower Garden V Poppy and foxglove. The colours are vivid with expressive emotional brush work.
Then here is a pioneering Expressionist painter born in Russia but who worked in Germany, Alexej von Jawlensky 1864-1941. He felt in 1905 that he had ‘ translated nature into colour.’
Still Life with Vase and Jug.
The Ludwig Museum is then privileged to have the third largest collection of works by Picasso. Paintings, ceramics and sculptures. I wanted to remember two of his sculptures: The owl and The crane both done in 1952 and then the Grand pitcher avec deux masques 1953.
The owl.
The crane.
The grand pitcher.
Pablo Picasso paintings belong to the period when painters broke down subjects into geometric shapes, viewing objects frim multiple angles simultaneously to create a flatterened abstract space. Here is an example of one Picasso’s paintings closest to the viewer.
A large painting by the Surrelist painter Salvador Dali is filling a wall. It is ‘La Gare de Perpignon 1965. ‘Peepignon Train Station’ with another title ‘ Pop-Op- Yes-Yes Pompier.’
…surrelism sought to channel the subconscious mind and dreams into the visual arts 1910 -1930s…
Now for Pop Art which the museum is said to have the largest collection of outside America.
Here is a story about an artist whose sculpture we will see. Initially she was a fashion model appearing in Vogue and Life. At the age of 23 she suffered a severe mental breakdown and found the act of painting therapeutic and liberating. She subsequently taught herself art as a means to express her emotions and heal from trauma. She passed away in 2002 due to respiratory failure, which was attributed to her prolonged exposure to funes and the glass fibers of her sculptural material. So what did she make? The Nannas. These she intriduced in 1965. They are exuberant, larger than life, colourful, voluptuous, female figures. They serves to symbolise untethered joys, free feminity, and a matriarchal world view.
Here she stands in the middle of the room.
Black Nana 1968-1969 by Niki de Saint Phalle ( 1930-2002)
Wonderful!
Then there is this to ponder by Andy Warhol:
‘ You’d be surprised how many people want to hang an Electric Chair on their living room wall. Especially if the background colour matches the drapes.’
Here is ‘ Jackie Triptych’ 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy in mourning.
We will continue in the gallery to a German visul artist known for defying traditional categorization, Gerhard Richter. He is now 94 and lives here in Cologne. He creates both photorealistic paintings and pure abstraction. Here is an example of each from this amazing museum.
Gerhard Richter’s painting of his 11-year- old daughter from a photograph.
Then the ‘ Five Doors’ . From left to right a single, ordinary door gradually swings open. In each panel, the door reveals only a dark, empty and completely featureless grey space. Here art deals with a reality of disappointed expectations.
Another person who made one want to know more was George Segal 1924-2000. Here is a piece called ‘ The restaurant Window’. He took plaster casts of mostly friends, who were willing to be covered in cloths covered in wet plaster. This dried quickly and he carefully took the shapes off.
He was a chicken farmer who wanted to be an artist and when he married was still studying to be a teacher. He and his wife still owned the same chicken farm when he died.
Not informing myself about the artist my immediate thoughts were: ‘ I look in at and out of restaurant windows.’ There is something so natural and endearing in the stance.
Here is another one.
Woman washing feet in a sink 1964 / 1965.
And something to gather/collect, weld them together, usually in a cluster or submerged and enclosed in resin. Assemblige Art, said to be a European counterpart to Pop Art.
Here identical or similar everyday pitchers enclosed in a class case.
And here is one out of my time order, Cubo – Futurism. I spent far more than 25 seconds looking at this in my opinion very beautiful work. It was painted by Vladimir Baranoff Rossiné.
The still life shows in bold colours a large tabletop with flowers and a folkloristic figure… Cubo- Futrism.
Read about him for yourself. Be warned it is sad.
Then there was this tree. The artist died too soon. ULL HOHN 1960- 1995.
Untitled.
What a special place. There is alway so much more. Thank you for being with Roy and I in a place which made us happy.
Take care,
Sandy 🙂
Ps
Here is a cheeky thought by Sandy 2026 taken on sight by eyephone. (Iphone)
Perhaps…
Completion Art. Cutlery in complete position. Used throw away napkin, teeth too weak to eat crusts,onion left and juice still to drink. Perhaps incompletion art with plastic plant.