Corot's portraits

Go for the classics...sometimes

"If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy," he said aloud. "But since I am not crazy, I do not care [...]"

....

"Ay," he said aloud. There is no translation for this word an perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.

....

"But man is not made for defeat," he said."A man can be destroyed but not defeated."


....



*Important note by the blogger: "Ay" amounts for as much as 75% of the lyrics of flamenco singing. So now you know.

Congratulations!

El Roto, National Illustration Prize 2012, Spain

*We took millions and the State put them back. How can you say the system is not working?

One of the best Spanish political analysts: ¡Felicidades!

Postcard from Paris

View from la  Concorde square

Shop window

 Antiquarians at Quai Voltaire

 Poster for the Soutine exhibition

Magrittian view from the Tuilleries

 Musée de l'Orangerie

Bokja

The Arab seasons by Bokja

At the Arab World Institute, Paris

"Bokja is a millenial Turkish word used in several countries to describe the intricately worked fabric created to wrap a bride's dowry. Beirut-based designers Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri bring a similar passion for detail and history to the furniture that they create under the same name. Baroudi and Hibri source vintage shapes and develop new designs before covering them with textiles and embroideries from around the world, retracting the Silk Route from the Far East via South Asia to the Middle East and beyond. Merging old cultures with repurposed modernist design, Bokja produce unique one-of-a-kind pieces that are sold and admired around the world, using textile to tell stories through explosive colours, juxtaposed patterns and rich textures.

Parallel to their furniture creations, Bokja often blur the fine line between art, craft and design. In response to the socio-political changes evoked - and provoked- by the events of the Arab spring, the designers have created a new body of work that positions Bokja within this new international context: questioning the future, albeit sometimes with a sense of irony, not only for Baroudi and Hibri but also for the craft artisans who collaborate with  them. Weaving these experiences into their very fabric of their oeuvre, each of them has an individual story to tell, and in turn, asks us to tell ours"

Find of the day

source: troyk pinterest board

from designspiration

I love it when you like my things, because then I find you!

A quote for one world

Football is an incomparable social phenomenon. It's the most universal language of all. There are more people who speak the language of football than speakers of Spanish or English. On every continent, football is a global phenomenon that manages to bring together people of different races, cultures and religions.

José Mourinho, soccer coach


And so is  art , las palabras mágicas thought

Guilty pleasure

Impressionism and Fashion 

at the Musée d’Orsay from 25 September to 20 January,
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) from 19 February to 27 May 2013
at the Art Institute of Chicago from 30 June to 22 September 2013

"In their desire to capture the atmosphere of contemporary life at a moment of great urban change, the Impressionists often chose to represent the human figure in an everyday setting and engaged in daily activities. Although the Impressionists were not interested in the scrupulous representation of physiognomy, costume and dress, they nevertheless recorded the fashions and attitutes of their time. Passionate about modernity, they rejected the conventional, artificial genre scene, abandoned the pose in favour of a spontaneous view and explored the effects of light playing on flesh and textiles in order to achieve a visual expression of what Baudelaire called "the daily metamorphosis of exterior things". The expressiveness of gestures, postures, unstudied poses, simple, elegant, city clothes appropriate for the time of the day, all played and unparelleled part in recreating the spirit of the times."

And why guilty? Because do we really need to be told once more to look at what she's wearing?

photos miaterralatina , garagemag , google images

Ancient Greek painting

This is my find of the year. I found it by chance flipping through a book at a bookshop.
So it turns out that there are some examples of Ancient Greece painting on wood panels. The wood is covered in plaster and painted in several colours with mineral pigments: black, white, blue, red, green, yellow, purple and brown.

These are known ase the Pitsa Panels, and they were found near the town of Sycion in Greece. They have been dated c.540 - 530 BC.



This one shows a sacrifical scene connected to the cult of the nymphs:

Interesting lady: Zenobia

 apparently this bust, though found in Palmyra, is not really a representation of Zenobia, what a pity

Name: Zenobia
Full name in Roman: Julia Augusta Zenobia
Lived: III century
Occupation: Queen of Palmyra
Where's Palmyra: it was one of the main cities of the ancient Near East, nowadays it is in Syrian land.
Main achievement: She led a revolt against the Roman empire, whose armies wanted to conquer every territory they set foot on as usual.
Achievement nº 2: She led expeditions, expanded and ruled over the Palmyrene empire after the death of her husband in 267. This included the invasion of Egypt.
Date the dream is over: in 274, when she was defeated by the Roman emperor Aurelian and taken to Rome as prisoner.

To know more: wikiyouknowhat, and on the blog Zenobia, empress of the East

Smile today

Source: the donut project

William Blake

Last days to see the William Blake exhibition at Caixa Forum, Madrid.
If you read something about his life you'll be amazed by his extraordinary character.