happy places

There are places that one finds in life that somehow have a centering, calming, and joyous effect on the soul. The memory of my Grandparents' buttered toast and pipe-scented house in California, the balcony in Boudha where I taught my dear After School Artists during the monsoons, the breakfast table with Pedro— I have a lot of these happy places. One of them happens to be the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, where I never tire of wandering through the galleries, though I have been there several times. Familiar brush strokes, colour palettes I know too well, and creamy marble that feels like home. It's like visiting a beautiful house full of old friends, who never seem to age though I do.

This holiday, I spent five hours at the museum one day— just me and Sargent, Monet, Manet, Turner. I went to Ancient Egypt, to Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and beyond. With the new sketchbook that my Grandma sent me for Christmas in hand, I sketched a few of my favourite pieces. Most of all, I just looked.

the human hand

There are beautiful hands to be found in the permanent collection of the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian.




Bugiardini, Giuliano. Portrait of a young woman. 1516–25. Oil on canvas.
Moroni, Giovanni-Battista. Portrait of Marco Antonio Savelli. 1543–47. Oil on canvas.
Rubens, Peter Paul. Portrait of Helena Fourment. 1630–32. Oil on wood.
Vincent, François-André. Portrait of Mademoiselle Duplant. 1793. Oil on canvas.
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. Portrait of Madame Claude Monet. 1872-74. Oil on canvas.
Cassatt, Mary. The Stocking. 1981. Pastel.
Copy after engraving by Gauthier-Dagoty, Jean-Baptiste André. Portrait of Madame Du Barry and the Page Zamore. Late 18th Century. Oil on canvas.
Degas, Edgar. Self-Portrait, or Degas Saluant. c.1863. Oil on canvas.
Dyck, Anton van. Portrait of a man. 1620–21. Oil on canvas.

dialogues

This summer, to initiate their series of exhibitions called Meeting Point, the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian brought together selections of work by Rembrandt and Portuguese artist Paula Rego. Meeting point is a "dialogue (or confrontation) between the collections of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum and the Modern Art Centre", a way of bringing together the contemporary and the past.

"United by their approach to time, the works on display allow us to reflect on the way in which, in every era, artists have worked in different ways on the same timeless themes, in an endless questioning of the perplexities that arise in the face of life and death." —Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

I love the idea of a dialogue between artists— imagine all the wonderful possibilities!



Rego, Paula. Time, Past and Present. 1990. Acrylic paint on marouflé paper and canvas. Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão. Lisbon, Portugal.
van Rijn, Rembrandt. Portrait of an Old Man. 1645. Oil on canvas. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. Lisbon, Portugal.
van Rijn, Rembrandt. A Seated Old Man and Woman (Jacob and Rachel). 1640–1645. Pen and ink on paper. British Museum. London, England.
Rego, Paula. Study for the painting Time, Past and Present. 1990. Pencil and ink on paper. J.S. Mills Collection. London, England.