honeymoon in europe: amsterdam/brussels

november 2002

The next morning, before we left, we went to the Museum of Ancient Art and Modern Art (they are actually two connected buildings). It was a spectacular museum. This is a professor talking about a huge Ruben painting to his class. The Rubens were a highlight. I also got to see one of my favorite paintings: "The Fall of Icarus" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. We also saw a lot by one of Brueghel's predecessors, Hieronymous Bosch. Cool stuff.


Cameras weren't allowed, so I was only able to sneak a few photos. (Naughty American!) This was my favorite painting in the Modern museum: "Baron Francis Delbeke," by Jules Schmalzigaug. Schmalzigaug--a Belgian--was an early 20th century abstract artist who has since been overshadowed by the German Expressionists, who followed closely after him.


This is a sculpture (whose name I forgot to write down) by Pol Bury, a modern artist who is (I think) still alive and working in Paris. He's one of the founders of "kineticism"--as you might guess from the name, many of his sculptures move. On this one, the balls kind of hum and shift at periodic intervals. It makes the zig zag wooden line look like it's contracting and expanding. It's hard to describe the effect, but it's profoundly creepy--I couldn't watch it for long. I like art that has that kind of visceral effect.
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