Venice was the final leg of my Italian tour, and also my first time in this very special city. A very pleasant bunk bed free hostel was there to greet me, as well as very welcoming staff and guests.
One of the people that makes for a happy and well informed visit.
The view of the Grand Canal right out of our dorm room window.
THE UBIQUITOUS VENETIAN GODOLAS – No Girlfriend – No Ride – Save $80-$100
They come in handy for quality free photo ops.
SERIOUSLY PHOTOGENIC CITY
Although I saw many men piloting these boats in full costume, I never encountered any of them singing as they paddled about. Perhaps there is an extra fee, or maybe there is a city ordinance against it.
UPSCALE VENETIAN SHOPPING MALL
ST. MARKS SQUARE
ST. MARKS SQUARE
NIGHT FALLS ON THE GRAND CANAL
GARBAGE SCOW – One of the armada of boats necessary for the removal of all the trash generated in the households, hotels and restaurants of Venice. Every comes in by boat and everything goes out by boat.
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
ENTRY GATE DETAIL
Max ERNST – In the Streets of Athens – 1960
Fritz KOENIG – Chariot – 1957
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’S GRAVE – In the sculpture garden.
PEGGY’S DOGS
Julio GONZÁLEZ – Mister Cactus – 1939
Alexander CALDER
Leonor FINI – The Shepherdess of the Sphinxes – 1941
A couple of nice Jackson Pollocks
Alexander CALDER – Red Disk – White Dots – 1960
Vasily KANDINSKY – White Cross – 1922
Vasily KANDINSKY – Upward – 1929
Juan GRIS – Bottle of Rum and Newspaper – 1914
Peggy Guggenheim and Pets
Rita Kernn-LARSEN – Behind the Mirror – 1937
Kernn-Larsen said of this work: “It was surely related to myself descending into the unknown behind the mirror/looking-glass inspired by Lewis Carrol’s story Through the Looking-Glass”. She depicted herself here as an Alice in Wonderland, who has crossed into a peculiar parallel world, perhaps of her subconscious.
Rita KERNN-LARSEN – Phantoms – 1934
Phantoms originated with a drowning accident that Kernn-Larsen and her husband witnessed on vacation in Normandy at a bathing resort in late summer 1934. “It was uncanny… two people went missing… I don’t think they were ever found. It made a deep impression on me,” she recalled. Phantoms depicts the imagined figures of the event, or their sprits as the title suggests, that had settled deeply in the subconscious. They “sail down to the bottom of the ocean like fish, human and fishy at the same time,”she explained.
The horizontal layers of color indicate the change in the hues of water as the depth increases. She enveloped the scene in a tranquil atmosphere. It resembles a dance rather than a tragedy. This was one of Kernn-Larsen’s favorite paintings.
Rita Kernn-LARSEN – Dance and Counter-dance – 1936
Kernn-Larsen’s works combined memories, dreams and imagination, as she employed and automatic Surrealist painting method to generate a flow of images arising from the unconscious. This is a signature example. The artist explained,”two rhythms play against each other. I consider it to be one of my most successful pictures.” The dance and its counter-dance might allude to the male and female energies, and their intimate dance, represented by two anthropomorphic figures on the lower left that ‘control’ the feet at the bottom. Yet despite their humanoid presence, the rhythmic undulating line is the protagonist of the scene. The surging shapes in the background evoke a landscape. However, this playful yet haunting painting cane best be described in terms of abstraction.
Alberto GIACOMETTI – Woman Walking – 1936
MIRKO – Roaring Lion II – 1956
THE JEWISH GHETTO
WALL OF REMEMBRANCE
The City of Venice remembers the Venetian Jews who were deported to the Nazi concentration camps on December 5th. 1943 and August 17th. 1944.
THE CATTLE CARS
SLAVE LABOR
EXECUTIONS
Scoula Grande di San Rocco
This is the Venetian mask shop that supplied the masks for the Stanley Kubrick film “Eyes Wide Shut”.
Ca’ Rezzonico
Venetian Glass Chandelier
One last look at the Grand Canal before crossing the bridge and hopping a bus to the airport. Next stop, Malta.
2 Comments
Karen Devers
May 9, 2017There is so much incredible art and architecture in Venice, how wonderful to see it in person. All of your photos are wonderful, as usual but the one that stands out to me is the one with the horizontal line of blue boats with the city in the distance. That is a stellar shot and worthy of selling. There are others as well, but that one has a mood that is haunting and evocative.
Your post prompted me to do some research and it seems that Venice is challenged on many fronts due to its location and life on the water. I found one article that seemed to sum up the various threats pretty well. I’ll attach it here.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/veneto/sinking-venice.asp
It would be a sad day indeed if the city was to sink below the sea, taking its treasures with it to become a modern day Atlantis.
The Travel Zealot
May 9, 2017Thanks Karen,
That blue gondola shot did work pretty well. The weather was marginal most of the time so it made getting good shots a little challenging. I think they are working on some technology along the lines of the Netherlands to deal with the rising water. During the time I was there, a sort of air raid siren went off during a particularly high tide. It seems there was a bit of flooding in St. Marks Square. I looked at the algae marks on the sea walls around the city, and they indicate that the water is spending a good deal of its time at a very high level indeed.