Thoughts on the unexpected and women in art

My trip to Italy was supposed to be all about Niki’s Tarot garden. I was supposed to go there two out of the four days I was in Italy. Then I found out The cleaner is at Pallazzo Storzzi in Florence and naturally I had to go. So the plan changed to Sunday – Tarot garden, Monday – Florence and Tuesday – either stay in Rome or go again to the garden.

For several reasons, I ended up staying in Rome on Sunday which I regretted in that very moment, but turned out to be good after all. Saturday, I already saw the only place I wanted to see in Rome (MAXXI), so what was I supposed to do with my Sunday?

I thought I should see another museum although I wasn’t really in the mood for art viewing after MAXXI, but I knew i would regret not going either. So, I went to the National Gallery of Modern Art. This is a classical building which was quite boring as architecture, but it got me thinking that this is better for the art shown inside because then you remember the art and not the building. What was worst was that you have nowhere to sit in the museum, only on one corridor which is actually very nicely lighted from the large windows. Fortunately you could just sit on the floor which I did because I was sooo tired.

In the end I am really glad I went because the works shown there are worth seeing and the exhibition was curated masterfully. I just loved how all the works were in relation to each other. For instance, the way you can see the fairly classical sculpture, through the Door with shade.

Or the room dedicated to women, which was impressive thought the double contrast of two paintings as big as the walls facing each other, both by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, and the sculptures. The paintings show women in positions of power, but they are also negative characters. This is obvious by the subjects chosen: Gorgone and the heroes and Diana of Ephesus and the slaves. Basically, powerful women are evil. Sounds familiar, I guess: a man who stands up for what he believes is brave, but a woman that does that is crazy. In the space between these paintings were placed sculptures showing women either as a victim or as fragile and pretty, like we are supposed to be. The effect is really powerful and as you turn to the door, on one side of it, there are a series of photos by Hans Bellmer, called La poupée, which show the woman figure distorted and recomposed by a will outside herself, just like a doll. It is probably a good moment to underline that the exhibition was called Time is out of joint.

An artwork I retained from this exhibition, mostly because I talked about it with a friend when I got back, is that of Jannis Kounellis, which represents a help bag over a painted surface that looked like black silk. It was painted so masterfully that I actually thought it was black silk. I also thought Jannis was a woman. He isn’t. Guess it’s one of those unisex names like Tylor or Andrea.

However, you shouldn’t worry that there were no women exhibited there. I do not think I am sensible to their art. Still, one left an impression on me: Marion Baruch, who is a textile artist ❤ and Romanian (I didn’t know this when I saw her work) ❤ triple win 😀

 
It was talking with this friend that made me realize that I was fortunate to see this museum even if at the time it felt like too much to process. Now, I think I should have organized myself better to see MACRO too, but really that would have been too much! After all, I was ready to just spend some time in a garden. 🙂