Venice- Modern Art

The Peggy Guggenheim Museum was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. The largely 20th.C collection is housed in her actual palazzo, which is right on the Grand Canal. The works hang in the same spots they did when she lived there and there are photographs in each room of her sitting in that room surrounded by the same art we are at that moment appreciating... (no photos are allowed to be taken inside and, tempted as I was, I obeyed)!
Almost as thrilling as the exhibit was the terrace with this spectacular bronze sculpture, "The Angel in the City" by Marino Marini, 1948.





One of things I love about Venice is, that although it has an amazing history of art & culture, it is not locked into it's past. It loves to celebrate art as it continues to be created; a vibrant, relevant and evolving dynamic.

We saw a wonderful exhibition of Stanley Kubrick's black and white photographs before he got into film making. Aside from the work itself, the site was intensely beautiful; the juxtaposition between the red silk walls, venetian glass chandelier and stark b & w photos was striking...

Venice

I just returned from a one week stay in Venice- a city like no other; a city referred to as "the most beautiful in the world".

You quickly adjust your way of looking... you are in another reality in a sense...

Venice simply embodies grace and beauty everywhere in everything. From the street lights to the shop signs to the painted doorways and the ornate brass buzzers on all the apartment entrances to the filigreed grillwork on the most humble of windows...

We are incredibly lucky to have a close friend who had the courage to buy a flat here. It has become her 'go to' place several times a year. (she rents it out during the rest of the year). We stayed with her and were able to get a real feel for the place through her eyes. Shopping for fresh produce on the barge that parks on the canal by her flat, buying cheese at the local deli and eating pizza at the small restaurant right in front of her place was, well. heaven...

I will continue to post on Venice throughout the week... opera, galleries, special exhibits and amazing food... oh my, the food- thank goodness we walked for miles every day!