Lots of art in Basel

On Tuesday morning, the plan was to have an “art” day, visiting the large Art Museum called the Kunst Museum. But, since I was in “art” mode when I left the flat, I became very aware of the art around me, such as this mural just down the street…..

….or this electrical box……

When I saw this sign……

…..I immediately wondered if it was a child care facility. My hunch was confirmed when I saw this pram and stroller “Parking garage”……

On the way to the museum, I came across the “Carnival Fountain” by Jean Tinguely….

Here is a video of each of the pieces of the fountain……

The museum itself is huge and is comprised of several buildings with a tunnel leading under the street to connect them. Fortunately, I had purchased the audio guide or I would never have known that there was another building. The signs were less than helpful…..

….but the docent’s were!!! I kept looking for the tunnel, and finally realized that I had walked thru it but it was really just another art gallery.

Two of the special exhibits were closed, which was a shame, but there was still plenty to see. It was a good mixture of art pieces, including Renaissance, Impressionistic and Modern. One of my favorite pieces was this Van Gogh self portrait…..

I appreciate that he used non-traditional colors for his face and hair, and also the “pieced” background. I enjoyed an up close view of the brush work on this portrait, also by Van Gogh……

The colors in this piece by Johannes Moreelse were mesmerizing ….

….as was the extreme detail in this still life by Willen Heda. The most amazing thing is the glass champagne flute that seemingly disappears into the background.

At this point, I had a good laugh at the commentary playing in my ears as they expostulated a complex meaning into every aspect of the piece.

Moving to the more modern art, I liked this piece by Frank Stella, although unfortunately, the photo is blurry…..

His comment about this piece was “what you see is what you see”, and the longer that I looked at it, the more different things that I could see!!

This was an interesting wood sculpture by Ernst Kirchner entitled “The Friends”…..

I appreciated the use of color and light in this piece by Luigi Russolo….

….and was a bit taken aback by this “falling man” located over the staircase!!

There was a fun (and well behaved) group of students in the museum with me and I enjoyed watching them toil over their studies…..

My quilt idea for the day came from this painting…..

It would be really fun to do something with free form letters!!!

I left the museum and realized that I was in need of food so I found a walk-up sandwich shop and deftly pointed to a tomato and mozzarella baguette….or so I thought!! It was actually a ham and tomato but it was MARVELOUS!!! As I sat on a bench and ate it, I looked into the window of a clothing shop and naturally had to check it out!! I walked out with another bag to carry for the day!!!

I wasn’t wanting to be outside too much longer, so decided to check out one more attraction for the day….. the Basel Minster…..

It was originally a Roman Catholic church, then a Reformed Protestant church and now appears to be used for musical performances. The only signs of a current religious use was a small hallway that contained a prayer altar….

…..and this statue tucked away in a corner….

I walked into the crypt and was underwhelmed with it, but then looked up and found some wonderful paintings on the ceiling…..

The nice thing about it not being a functioning church is that you could walk into places that would otherwise be forbidden. It was a treat to be able to get this close to the stained glass windows…..

….and to see the church from the front to the back…..

You can apparently climb the towers to see a birds-eye view of the city, but could only go up in groups of two or more so I will have to come back when Michael can join me!!!

Finally, as I end my day of “ART”, here are a few pieces that I propose…..

“Triangles ala brick” (ie…fun quilt border design)…..

“Art Infinity”…..

“Man In White Cap”…..

“Bathroom in Sea Foam”…..

And, last but not least…..”School’s out”…..

Our day ended with dinner with Walter, at a restaurant very close to the university campus. It was a fun place, reminiscent of a British Pub where the proprietor knew everyone who came in and made it his job to meet those who he didn’t know!!!

Art day is over…….