We went there on our first day in Madrid because it was the last day of a major exhibition from the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, which is being remodeled.
White Fire: The Kunstmuseum Basel Modern Collection
Very few of the paintings from Basel's modern collection continued the pictorial tradition of relating to the real world.
Post-Impressionism
Ferdinand Hodler was the best known Swiss painter of the late 19th and early 20th century. The painting below is a remarkably straightforward and realistic depiction of a mountain in Switzerland, capturing recognizable formations. He used a loose brushstroke, in the manner of the post-Impressionists. He crowned the mountain with a halo of clouds.
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| Ferdinand Hodler Mount Niesen Seen from Heustrich, 1910 |
Ernst Kirchner, a German artist, painted an Expressionist version of another Swiss mountain scene. From all that pink and purple, I'd say he loved the place.
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| Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Davos in Winter. Davos in Snow, 1923 |
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| Edvard Munch Coastal Landscape, 1918 |
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| Edvard Munch Road in Aasgaardstrand, 1901 |
Analytical Cubism sought to deconstruct forms and present them in new patterns. It was invented by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Here's an example by Braque. The violin is in the lower foreground and the pitcher is sitting behind it.
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| Georges Braque Pitcher and Violin, 1909/1910 |
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| Fernand Léger Woman in Blue, 1912 |
Synthetic Cubism
After a few years, both Braque and Picasso turned from de-constructing the image to composing new images by layering forms. Each artist painted an overhead view of the stuff on top of a small table, in very similar canvases. Notice that they pasted bits of newspaper into their compositions, or painted forms that look like clippings from the journals.
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| Georges Braque Gueridon (small circular table), 1913 |
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| Pablo Picasso The Pedestal Table, 1913-1914 |
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| Fernand Léger Nudes on a Red Ground, 1923 |
Paul Klee, a Swiss born painter of German heritage, started as an Expressionist, but his highly eccentric style was influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, and eventually approached Abstractionism. His works are generally modest in their presentation and seem to come from a comical attitude.
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| Paul Klee Senecio (Soon to be Aged), 1922 |
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| Paul Klee Blue Night, 1937 |
Abstractionism
The deconstruction of forms started by Cubism inevitably led to the idea that subject matter was unnecessary. A painting could be composed of new forms invented by the painter. Abstractionism was invented by Vassily Kandinsky. Forms and colors were treated in relation to each other and the work's internal composition, instead of referring to objective reality.
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| Vassily Kandinsky Heavy Red, 1924 |
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| Piet Mondrian Composition No. I, with Red and Black, 1929 |
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| Theo van Doesburg Composition in Half-Tones, 1928 |
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| Georges Vantongerloo L2=S violet, yellow, green red, 1933 |
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| Georges Vantongerloo Function-Composition, 1937 |
Pop Art was a movement of the 1950s and 60s in which artists were concerned with images borrowed from other media, such as photographs.
In the next example, Andy Warhol took an image of a car crash from a newspaper or magazine, and manipulated it to form an abstract pattern of clashing colors.
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| Andy Warhol Optical Car Crash, 1962 |
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| Gerhard Richter Motorboat, 1965 |
The collection included a few sculptures that I liked very much. The idea of building something new from scratch instead of imitating reality came readily to sculptors.
Antoine Pevsner was a Russian sculptor in the constructivist movement.
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| Antoine Pevsner Construction with Developable Surface, 1938 |
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| Max Bill Construction with and within Cube, 1944-1945 |
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| Donald Judd Untitled, 1970 |
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| Carl Andre Cedar Piece, 1959/1964 |
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| Bruce Nauman The True Artist, 1967 |
Collectionism and Modernity
Two Case Studies
The Collections of Im Obersteg and Rudolf Staechelin, Basel
Vincent van Gogh
This work is unusual for its wide format. It suggests that this garden, which belonged to a painter that van Gogh admired, offered a spacious vista, too broad for the ordinary canvas. Instead of settling on some central subject, your eye roams across the canvas, along the line of trees. Have you ever seen so many shades of green? What a bounty. A skittering cat and a picket gate make it seem like a personal space, rather than a public park.
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| Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890 Daubigny’s Garden, 1890 |
Paul Gauguin
This painting by Gauguin is an early work, when he was still working in France and his style was rooted in Impressionism. The color combinations and the subtle composition are very attractive.
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| Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903 Landscape with Red Roof, 1885 |
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| Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903 When will you marry? 1892 |
Ferdinand Hodler
One of this artist's landscapes was included in the 'White Fire' exhibit. In this example, his brushstroke and his coloration are Expressionist.
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| Ferdinand Hodler, 1853-1918 Portrait of Régina Morgeron, 1911 |
The range of styles commanded by this prolific artist is dumbfounding. The first two paintings were done in the same year.
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| Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973 Woman in the Loge, 1901 |
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| Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973 The Absinthe Drinker, 1901 |
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| Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973 Harlequin with Mask, 1918 |
Suzanne Valadon came from a poor family and began working lowly jobs at age 11, meaning that she had little formal education. She became a model for artists, including Auguste Renoir, when she was 15, and modeled for over 10 years, using the time to study the techniques of the artists she worked for. When she started making art herself, she received strong support from Edgar Degas. While she painted a variety of subjects, she is best known for frank female nudes.
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| Suzanne Valadon, 1865-1938 The Frog, 1910 |
Chagall's self-portrait shows him to have a surprising self-image. His broad collar, side-long glance, and refined features look archly feminine.
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| Marc Chagall, 1887-1985 Self-Portrait, 1914 |
Jawlensky was a Russian expressionist painter active in Germany. Several of his works were exhibited, showing how he progressed toward abstraction.
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| Alexej von Jawlensky, 1864-1941 Self-Portrait, 1911 |
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| Alexej von Jawlensky, 1864-1941 Mystical Head: Head of a Girl (Frontal), 1918 |
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| Alexej von Jawlensky, 1864-1941 Abstract Head: Black-Yellow-Purple, c. 1922 |
Reina Sofia's Permanent Collection
The big disappointment of the permanent collection is that photography is not allowed in a large section, including Picasso's famous Guernica and lots of other work by Picasso. The collection's great asset is a large group of works by Salvador Dalí. The collection also introduced me to a few excellent Spanish artists who are not well-known outside of Spain.
Pablo Picasso
Picasso painted these two paintings the same year as the two very different works in the 'Collectionism' exhibit from Basel; scroll backward a little to compare. The first example is charming and unique because the sitter is frankly smiling.
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| Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973 Bust of a Smiling Woman, 1901 |
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| Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973 Woman in Blue, 1901 |
Albert Gleizes
We first discovered Gleizes at the City of Paris's Museum of Modern Art. Here's another example of his colorful brand of Cubism. It is fairly easy to pick out three women who are sewing. By the suggestions of buildings and parks, I imagine they are working in a factory in town.
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| Albert Gleizes, 1881-1953 Women Sewing, 1913 |
Also at the City of Paris's Museum of Modern Art, we encountered several attractive paintings by Robert Delaunay. I was disappointed that there were no works by his wife Sonia Delaunay, who was equally talented and with him founded a version of Cubism known as Ophism. I was happy to find this excellent example at the Reina Sofia; it was originally an advertising poster.
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| Sonia Delaunay, 1885-1979 Dubonnet, 1914 |
Robert Delaunay
This figurative painting by Robert Delaunay retains ties to reality and to tradition.
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| Robert Delaunay, 1885-1941 The Gypsy, 1915 |
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| Joan Miró, 1893-1983 The Smile of the Flamboyant Wings, 1953 |
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| Joan Miró, 1893-1983 House with Palm Tree, 1918 |
Dalí might fairly be called the prototypical Surrealist, exploring his fantasies, memories, obsessions and fetishes with wild abandon, and gleefully exposing them to the art world. Never has a painter had a more prolific imagination or a greater talent for expressing it. He is best known for works like the following, using real objects distorted symbolically and combined in a symbolic setting.
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| Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989 The Enigma of Hitler, 1939 |
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| Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989 The Endless Enigma, 1938 |
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| Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989 Girl from the Back, 1925 |
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| Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989 Girl at the Window, 1925 |
This woman is a minor Spanish artist whose works are mainly retained by her own family. This example is impressive for its unusual perspective, its technical accuracy, and the rippling play of shadows. She added a thought component by calling it Adam and Eve. Are they so much in love that the world feels brand new? Since they are wearing clothes, perhaps they have already been chucked out of Eden and are wondering what to do.
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| Rosario de Velasco, 1910-1991 Adam and Eve, 1932 |
Three works interested me because they treat the nude figure in new ways. These two paintings both have unusual perspective and simple compositions that fill the canvas. Both depict firm, touchable flesh and realistic muscle detail.
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| José de Togores, 1893-1970 Nudes on the Beach, 1922 |
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| Robert Fernández Balbuena, 1890-1966 Nude, 1932 |
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| Antonio López, b. 1936 Man and Woman, 1968-1994 |
Man Ray was an American artist who spent most of his career in France. He was part of a movement that seemed to have a love-hate relationship with art, called Dada. He was always trying to surprise you with some quirky perspective. He worked in a variety of media, but he is best known for his photography. Click on these iPad shots to enlarge them.
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| Man Ray, 1890-1976 Venus total eclipse, Kiki Naked, Ingres’s violin |
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| Man Ray, 1890-1976 Kiki from Montparnasse, Tears |
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| Man Ray, 1890-1976 Indestructible Object, 1923-1933 |
Having an opportunity to see the two exhibits from Basel, Switzerland, was exceptionally good luck. The quality of the art was very high, and the selection added to our understanding of art history in the 20th Century. The opportunity to look at Spanish art of the 20th century was also valuable. Spain can boast of three artists who were major stars of the period: Picasso, Dalí, and Miró. Seeing their works in the context of a broader look at Spanish art increased our understanding.
The museum is housed in a handsome old building that is arranged in a square around a sculpture garden. This type of plan causes a lot of extra walking. There used to be a lot of stair-climbing as well in this three-story structure, but two glass elevators have been tacked onto the front, giving it a rather distinctive look. A new building in the back offers a dramatic restaurant with your choice of gourmet dining or the snack bar. We used both in the course of a long day.
In the courtyard formed between the museum, the building with the restaurant and a building housing an art library, was a lovely shaded courtyard with this terrific sculpture depicting a brushstroke. Roy Lichtenstein was always making humorous comments about the art being made around him.
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| Roy Lichtenstein Brushstroke, 1996 |
