An architectural marvel has sat incomplete in a residential corner of Barcelona since its architect, Antoni Gaudí, died during construction in 1926. For decades, La Sagrada Familia has been an example of Christian fealty and Catalan ingenuity wrought in granite and sandstone; but little could anyone have guessed that ninety-four years after Gaudí’s death a Japanese sculptor would dedicate his life to completing the architect’s colossal work…
Filmed and Edited by: Kirill Arkharov
The Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa, are rugged volcanic isles known for their black- and white-sand beaches. Tenerife, the largest island, is dominated by the sometimes-snowy active volcano Mt. Teide, which has its own astronomical observatory and is part of Teide National Park. Tenerife hosts a huge pre-Lent Carnival in the capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
This week, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu held its first performance with a live audience post-coronavirus, but it’s unclear whether the attendees were too green to appreciate Puccini’s “Crisantemi.” Seated in the red, velvet seats and among the gold balconies, 2,292 palms, ficus trees, and Swish cheese plants filled the iconic opera house to listen to the string quartet’s rendition.
A collaboration with Madrid-based artist Eugenio Ampudia and the Max Estrella gallery, the concert was meant to reflect on humans’ relationship with nature. “I thought why don’t we go into the Liceu like weeds, take it over and let nature start growing everywhere and turn it into something alive even when there are no people,” Ampudia said in an interview. After the performance, the leafy audience members were donated to healthcare workers who have been battling the virus during the last few months.
Between 13 December 1954 and 14 February 1955, Picasso painted a series of fifteen canvases based on Eugène Delacroix’s masterwork Les femmes d’Alger, each of which he assigned an identifying letter from A to O. Together, these paintings constitute Picasso’s single greatest achievement in the decades following the end of the Second World War. They represent his first comprehensive appropriation and thoroughgoing exploration of an important painting by an earlier artist, as well as the most focused analysis he had done since the war years of the female figure set within a specific spatial environment.
Picasso painted the present Femmes d’Alger, Version F on 17 January 1955, around the halfway point in the cycle. It is the culminating, most fully resolved canvas from the first phase of the series, when Picasso favored medium-sized formats for his protean explorations.
Directors – Luke Marsh + Alexander Hellebaut
Designer – Alexander Hellebaut
Animation – Luke Marsh, Alexander Hellebaut, Michael Towers + Ish Ali
Voiceover – Javier Fernandez
Music + Sound Design – Arthur Brouns
Producer – Eve Somerville
Creative Director – Giles Dill
With thanks to Fundació Gala Salvador Dalí, Shamina Knights and Danielle Hallock.
Surrealist master Salvador Dali would often be found in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona. His visits were often followed by stories as strange as his artworks. One such tale is of Dali’s magic chequebook… a story of food, drink and finances that may or may not have happened.
Filmed and Edited by: Mattia Bicchi
My 2020 Timelapse and Hyperlapse showreel it’s all about Madrid, not because I didn’t travel, but because it became my new home! With this timelapse, I wanted to showcase some of my favourite spot I shot in 2019! Thank you, Madrid for gifting me with the incredible skies at sunset and for the new friendships!
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, as he discusses the sole Velázquez painting at the Frick, “King Philip IV of Spain,” while enjoying a Fitifiti, the popular Spanish cocktail. Examine the extraordinary details and painterly skills that illustrate why the artist is regarded by many (including Xavier) as the greatest European painter who ever lived, and why this work was Henry Clay Frick’s favorite
Produced by: Capsus Films
Directed by: Guilhem MACHENAUD
Edited by: César Abadie
Post Production : Tristan Barathe
Music by: Mars Octobre Music
Manet called him “the greatest painter of all.” Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that he painted 44 variations of it. Francis Bacon painted a study of his portrait of Pope Innocent X. Monet and Renoir, Corot and Courbet, Degas and Dalí…for so many champions of art history, the ultimate soundboard was—and remains—Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660).
This updated catalog raisonné brings together Velázquez’s complete works, jaw-droppingly reproduced in extra-large format, with a selection of enlarged details and brand new photography of recently restored paintings, achieved through the joint initiative of TASCHEN and Wildenstein. The book’s dazzling images are accompanied by insightful commentary from José López-Rey on Velázquez’s interest in human life and his equal attention to all subjects, from an old woman frying eggs to a pope or king, as well as his commitment to color and light, which would influence the Impressionists over two centuries later.
Boomers Daily 