museum

The Taft Museum of Art, a hidden treasure.

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As I mentioned last week, while I was in Cincinnati, I had planned to visit the Taft Museum of Art upon arrival, but since I landed late on Thursday, I had to skip the conference on Saturday to go to the museum (Shhh, don’t tell anyone). I particularly wanted to see Goya’s Queen Maria Luisa, but I was pleasantly surprised to see many other jewels: a Turner, a Fortuny, and many other pieces. Unfortunately, two portraits by Madrazo were out on loan.  On the other hand, they were hosting a phenomenal exhibit of Rembrandt’s prints. I was deeply moved by The Return of the Prodigal Son and by Abraham and Jacob. A nice exhibit included all the tools and elements used to make prints, which helped me to understand the process of printmaking.

The Goya did not disappoint. The queen is radiant in her jewels and outfit. There is something about her gaze, is it mischief? Is it arrogance? One wonders… Unfortunately, the piece is hanging at the end of a corridor, not the best placement for arguably the best piece in the collection; maybe that is where Taft put her, but that is still no excuse. Lesser paintings are better positioned within the museum.

The museum is housed in Taft’s beautiful ancestral mansion, which has lovely grounds, a courtyard, a nice little gift shop, and a coffee shop, where I enjoyed a perfect cup of coffee.

If you are in Cincinnati and need a brief escape, a respite from the city, this is your place. You are welcome.

Oh, and if you want to see the process of printmaking, here is a cinematic version from the great film, Goya’s Ghosts. Enjoy.

Anton Raphael Mengs at the Prado Museum (hurry, until March 1, 2026)

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Yes, I might have a mildly obsessive personality. One such obsession is the 18th Century, I rather flourish with everything to do Enlightenment, Neoclassical, late Baroque, early Romantic, you get my drift.

When I found out there was a Mengs exhibit at the Prado, I did not go once; I went twice (and I might go again) —Advantage of being an “Amigo del Prado,” I get in for free 😊

Mengs is the consummate 18th-century, Enlightenment painter. Although he worked for a lot of European nobility, most of his work was for King Carlos III in Madrid; in fact, most of Mengs’ work I have seen was at the Palacio Real in Madrid.

My main scholarly project at the moment (sorry, I cannot disclose too many details) involves a Francisco de Isla book that was in the library of the Spanish-Italian Cardinal Zelada. What was my surprise when reading the description of a portrait at the exhibit, that it was Cardenal Zelada, which normally lives at the Art Institute of Chicago, what a coincidence! (Check it out here).

The exhibit is phenomenally curated; it has hundreds of paintings gathered from around the world, divided into 10 huge areas grouping different stages and themes. It is worth the visit.

So if you are in Madrid before March 1st, 2026, go to the Prado and check out the Mengs exhibition. You are welcome.

Paolo Veronese at the Prado Museum

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Back in a previous lifetime, I used to collaborate with a polymer extrusion company (sexy, I know) located just outside Florence. For work purposes, of course, I used to visit them every year, spending a week in Florence. Because of this, I am quite familiar with the Florentine Renaissance and less so, I must admit, the Venetian Renaissance.

Fortunately, I recently had the opportunity to (partly) fix this by going with my sister to an amazing Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) exhibit at the Prado.

I was blown away!! There are over a hundred paintings from the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum, the National Gallery in London, the Galleria degli Uffizi, the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, and, of course, the Prado.

When you mention the Renaissance, the first thing you think of, in painting, is perspective, depth; this is something Veronese has mastered. More importantly, I found the details, and even more importantly, the narrative capacity of the paintings —the ability to tell a story, really special. From a technical or art history perspective, the Renaissance started in Florence, giving them the edge, but Venice soon countered with brighter colors, as a young El Greco would learn. However, all this makes little difference, for a non-specialist like me, I just freaked out at the beauty.

This being the Renaissance, most paintings are of Biblical or Greek mythology stories, making it relatively easy to situate oneself.

So if you are in Madrid until September 29, see the Veronese exhibit at the Prado. You are welcome.

Rene Magritte at the Baker Museum in Naples

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René Magritte might not be a household name, even though you might have his iconic Ceci n’est pas une pipe print hanging in your room or have seen his images many times.

Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian surrealist painter known for his amusing but ingenious surrealism, the body of a man in a suit with an apple for a head, the pipe painting, and so on.

On a recent trip to Naples (the Florida one), I had a bit of time in between meeting friends, so I snuck into the Baker Museum (which I write about here).

The Magritte exhibition was admittedly small, with just half a dozen paintings sandwiched inside a much bigger exhibition about the Everglades and its environment. But it was still worthwhile and beautiful to sit down for a while and contemplate these paintings that make you think about the metaphysical.

Magritte: Reflections of Another World comprises six paintings — five oils and one gouache — by Belgian artist René Magritte (1898-1967). Renowned for his witty Surrealist paintings of everyday objects in strange surroundings, Magritte preferred that his artworks remain mysterious and open to interpretation. These works are from the collection of Jean Van Parys, a collector of avant-garde art and a close friend of Magritte, and they are on a five-year loan to Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum from Van Parys’ daughter. The paintings have never previously been shown in North America, and none have exhibited publicly in over 48 years. Baker Museum

Sorolla and the Sea at the Norton in West Palm Beach

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Maybe because the Joaquín Sorolla house and museum is around the corner from my family home in Madrid, Sorolla was the first painter I connected to. Maybe it was his Mediterranean scenes that took me to my own Summers in the Med. Whatever it might have been, Sorolla has a special place in my heart.

When I am in Madrid, I often sneak into the garden of the Sorolla house museum to read, and occasionally I will go inside to visit the paintings like old friends (you can read about that here).

So when I learned the Norton Museum was hosting an exhibition to complement their existing (huge) Sorolla painting, I had to see it.

It did not disappoint. Most of the paintings are on loan from the Hispanic Society in New York City which commissioned many paintings from Sorolla. The exhibit includes some drafts of paintings, a bronze sculpture from his dear friend and paisano Benlliure -the marble one is in the garden in Sorolla’s house, even one of Sorolla’s palettes!

Sorolla is known as the painter of light, leaving behind the Impressionists, and creating a space of his own, beyond labels.

If you are in the Palm Beach area you should see it, you are welcome.

Spanish Baroque in Boca Raton

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As soon as I found out that the Boca Raton Museum of Art had an exhibit about the Spanish Baroque, I booked a visit for my classes and then went to check it out for myself.

The paintings are courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America in New York, which has organized this exhibit, and which will then travel to a couple more cities.

Splendor and Passion: Baroque Spain and Its Empire is a small but very good-quality exhibit. You are welcomed by a local artist’s interpretation of Velazquez’s Meninas, and then you enter to discover paintings by the real Velazquez, Murillo, and el Greco (whom I would put more into late Renaissance than Baroque, but I am nitpicking). If you love the chiaroscuro, if you love Baroque art, this one is for you!

The Boca Raton is a fairly small museum, with most of the collection being 20th C art. But since you are already there, you might as well check it out.

So, if you are in this suburban wasteland that is South Florida, and you need a little injection of beauty, art, and culture, head over to the Boca Raton Museum of Art. You are welcome.

Colecciones Reales, musings on new museums

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New museums are rare, most of the stuff worth seeing is already being shown. Another key issue is that for most modern museums the building is more interesting than what is inside -think of Guggenheim Bilbao, or even NY- It is rare to find a new museum where both the container and what it contains are both at the same level of excellence. One such exception is the massive collection of “stuff” the Spanish Royal family has -which technically belongs to all Spaniards, as it is part of the national heritage which is being shown in the brand new Colecciones Reales Museum in Madrid.

This museum has been pending since 1934 with the advent of the Second Republic, but it was finally constructed right above the Royal Palace gardens and next to the Cathedral. It opened in June of 2023. Celia and I finally got a chance to go, and it was free since the museum was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the crowning of King Felipe VI. I liked it so much, I returned the next day with my niece!

The museum is massive all in concrete and granite with some wooden accents, it is really cool. The collection has artifacts from the Trastámara dynasty, the Hapsburgs, and the Bourbons. The collection includes carriages and cars, a ton of tapestries, a fountain! some religious items, books, a set of Solomonic columns, dinning sets, and obviously a ton of paintings, including a huge Velazquez horse, and oh, a Caravaggio!

The museum includes the de rigueur coffee shop and gift shop, and it is worth the visit, even if it is not free when you go.

The backside of paintings, “Reversos,” how to bribe your niece to go to a museum with you.

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Have you ever thought about what is on the other side of a painting? Well, the Prado museum read your mind and has an exhibition just on that! The back sides of the painting “Reversos.”

So, I grabbed my Amigos del Museo del Prado card and invited my niece to come. How did you get a preteen to go to a museum with you? You might ask. Very easily; first she is a sport, and second, I went ice skating with her the day before!!

The exhibit is a real revelation. From plain dedications to the subjects and patrons on the back, to sketches and drafts, to “real” backsides of the painting -paintings with two sides! Some insightful and beautiful, some a bit spicy. Walking around this exhibition felt very private, the public was not “supposed” to see what was going on behind the paintings, it was all a bit secret.

If you are in Madrid until March 3rd, make sure you check out this exhibit. You are welcome!

Museo Arqueológico Nacional MAN

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When one of your best friends is a noted fine antique art restorer and he invites you to walk around the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, something you had not done since you were a schoolboy, you drop everything and go!

First, what a wonderful job they have done renovating it! The museum shares building with the National Library -One side Library, one side Museum. In it you will find everything from prehistoric bones to early 19th C artifacts. Of course, the main exhibits are from Spain’s first inhabitants, the íberos, with their rich sculptures, like the Dama de Elche -the museum’s undisputed jewel, and their falcata swords feared by the Romans… (Jaime restored a bunch of these curved swords and told me everything about them).

The room of Roman mosaics is mind blowing, the Greek room, the Romanesque room also, and on and on. The whole museum is jaw dropping! And if that was not enough, under the garden, they have recreated the Altamira caves with their prehistoric paintings, it is literally a cave with the painting on the walls and ceilings.

Jaime even introduced me to some of his colleagues and showed me the labs and workshops, even the library where he works when he collaborates with them.

So, if you are in Madrid, do not miss the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, also, it is on Calle Serrano, a main shopping street so you can kill two birds with one stone!!

You are welcome!

West Palm Beach as an oasis of art and culture.

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If you pay attention and follow this blog you will notice that the main topics covered are The Camino, academics and education, Literature, art and culture, and then a lot of random thoughts and stuff.

This reflects who I am, of what drives me, what makes me tick. And as such it is -I guess- remarkably reliable. The reason for my passion for art and culture lies in the emotions involved and invoked by art.

Fortunately, a lot of art is now accessible from the comfort of your home: film, books, and so forth. But, a lot of art has to be shared, you have to get out to experience it. I am blessed to live near Palm Beach, which is -I have said this before- an oasis of art and culture in this suburban wasteland that is South Florida.

The Norton Museum gets a lot of attention in this blog because it is a jewel of a place which I love. I recently went to see their latest addition: John Singer Sargent’s painting of Amy Phipps Guest. It is a beautiful painting with illumination reminiscent of Sorolla (they were contemporaries and not only did their careers overlap, their technique is eerily similar).

Another cultural treasure of Palm Beach is the Palm Beach Symphony, which I saw perform Handel’s Messiah in December. I recently saw them perform their season finale, at the Kravis Center, their “home”, which included Mozart’s Piano Concerto #23, Franck Symphony in D minor, and Hailstork’s Monuments for solo trombone

In conclusion: thank God for Palm Beach.