All posts by Emile Manfeldt

Do not take Life too serious

I tend to take life too serious. On a visit to Florance the art and architecture of that beautiful city tend to be overwhelming! If I were to be one of that city’s artists the mere quality and quantity of art there would totally inhibit my creativity.

One of the city artists must have felt the same. He (or she) took out his frustrations in traffic signs of the central tourist area. It must have been fun. We ended up following all his crazy art works!

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It just shows that one do not have to be to serious to be noticed.

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Pergamon Museum and the city of Pergamon

In the centre of Berlin is the Museum Island. Four of the worlds biggest museums can to be found here. Because of my love for Greek ancient history and culture the Pergamon museum was my first stop on a visit to the great German city. The museum houses the Altar to Zeus from the city of Pergamon in the now modern Turkey.
The Pergamon Altar dates from the 2nd century BC, with a 113 meters long sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants, and the Gate of Miletus from Roman antiquity.

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Museum of Musical Instruments, Berlin

A visit to Berlin, for me, must include a visit to the holy shrine of music: the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, home to the Philharmonic Orchestra, both closely associated with two of my musical hero’s; Beethoven and Karajan. After a second visit and two evenings of heavenly music I still was drawn to the place. Close to the Hall we discovered a museum for Musical instruments.

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Maillol

If one goes walking in the Paris’ Tuileries Gardens Close to the Louvre Museum one can see a collection of statues by the sculptor Aristede Maillol. The gardens boast 20 Maillol sculptures. The sculptures are strong monumental female nude figures. They were donated by Maillol’s last model and his muse,Dina Vierny.

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Monet Gardens

In the province of Normandy, France, lies the quiet, picturesque town of Giverny. Here the impressionist painter, Monet, lavished love and care on his garden for over 40 years. The lush garden with its profusion of flowering shrubs and brilliantly coloured flowerbeds still conjures up images of Monet’s paintings of water lilies, the Japanese footbridge and the wonderfully colourful garden paintings. In all of art history there is, to my knowledge, not a more a complete record of an artist’s inspiration, than the gardens of Monet at Giverny. These gardens are an extension of his art. Some people even say that the gardens itself is Monets greatest creative legacy to the world.

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Stone Age structures

A visit to Ireland made me acutely aware of Stone age structures. These megalithic structures can be found all over Ireland. The most commonly seen of these giant stone structures are the great portal tombs. My first exposure to it was the great Brown Hill Dolmen. A simple structure with two support stones in front, a lower stone to close of the entrance and a massive rock to form a roof. Estimated to be more than 5 millinnia old, the structure takes your breath away. Simple, solid with a spiritual feeling to it one seldom experiences. The setting is breathtaking as well, situated on n hill overlooking the whole valley.

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Marino Marini, scupltor

I first saw Marino Marini’s work in front of the Peggy Guggenheim museum in Venice. It is a lovely sculpture of a boy on a horse, arms thrown open to welcome the world in a very positive attitude.The name of the sculpture is “the Angel of the City”. Great was my excitement when I read that there is a Marini museum dedicated to his art in Florance.

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