2023-01-30 Barcelona

Yesterday morning was Picasso; evening was Disney.

Picasso had learned all the classical painting techniques by age 16 but he was a rule breaker and dyslexic. Here in “Science and Charity” the bed looks short when viewed from the left; long when viewed from the right.

For a small payment the public could see this little lady, presented as a barely human freak. Picasso presents her as defiant, as though to say that although she is small, she is strong.

Still life

Picasso painted more 45 interpretations of Velazquez’ “Las Meninas” in 1957, modifying some aspect of the original in each one, experimenting in his own way. So it may be that in a particular interpretation he was changing the position of one person or changing the lighting in a certain way.

Many of Picasso’s painting show a view from a balcony and a number of them feature pigeons.

Rather than pay 20 euros to tour the Palace of Catalan Music, we attended a 5:30pm concert of Disney music. The concert hall was built in just three years, finished in 1908.

The concert was Disney music performed by the Franz Schubert Filharmonia from Tarragona, Spain. We weren’t sure about a Disney performance but it turned out to be fabulous with excellent seats and enthusiastic performers, singers and musicians.

Ceiling of the hall.

This morning we toured La Pedrera, another building designed by Gaude. This is the last building Gaude designed before devoting himself fully to the Sagrada familia. Designed as an apartment building, it is now largely office space.

Early 1900s apartment of a wealthy family.

Model of the building displayed in the attic.

View of an interesting building across the street.

Rooftop

Looking down at the courtyard

Looking up from the courtyard.

And we also visited the train station today to collect a 135 euro refund, the full price of our tickets from Cordoba – because the train arrived in Barcelona more than 30 minutes behind schedule!

Tomorrow we fly home after another wonderful trip. And although there were six of us together most of the time, not one of us got sick. God willing, we will arrive home late Tuesday evening.

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