Major highlight:
Title: Cathy’s Book
Author: Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman
Remark: The New York Times Book Review Children’s Best Sellers
Archive for October, 2007
It took me two months to finish this book. It’s not the fault of the content but rather “technical” reasons. The book is printed with very nice glossy papers, which makes it (~300 pages, more than 2kg) very heavy for me to carry around everyday. And since it’s so well-binded with thick papers that I had to use some strength to hold the book and keep it open in order to read it, and that made my wrists very tiring after a short while.
Anyway, I managed to struggle through the book. It’s still very much Alain de Botton, clear and witty prose, interesting insights sometimes. He explains social developments in western countries throughout history, the changing ideas towards status, and different solutions to status anxiety. Those solutions include Christianity, politics, arts and bohemian lifestyle.
Having read a number of his books I come to realise a main deficiency of Alain de Botton - his lack of knowledge in Oriental philosophies. I know his books mainly focus on western societies, but as an Asian, I sometimes feel that eastern philosophies can probably offer better consolations to a lot of troubled minds in the modern world.
The biggest gain from the book is that I find out something called “vanitas art”. I was always very puzzled to see so many skulls in churches, and many paintings in museums depicting skulls on books or in domestic settings. According to de Botton, a new art genre developed in 16th century based on Ecclesiastes’ “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (I.2). “It was hung in domestic environments, often in studies or bedrooms. the canvases featured a table or sideboard on which were arranged a contrasting muddle of objects. there were flowers, coins, a guitar or mandolin, chess games, a laurel wreath and wine bottles: symbols of frivolity and worldly glory. And among these were placed the two great symbols of death and the brevity of life: a skull and an hourglass.
Vanite, Simon Renard de Saint-Andre (1660)
The purpose of these works was not to leave their owners depressed by the vanity of all things. Rather it was to embolden them to find fault with specific aspects of their experience, while at the same time to grant them license to attend more seriously to the virtues of love, goodness, sincerity, humility and kindness.”
A quick review of the museums I went to in Athens and Munich:
Athens: National Archaeological Museum
My guide book said that I should go there twice if possible, but I only had 3 hours’ time before my flight. It was really a shame because admission was free that day (didn’t know why) and the museum was huge! It is definitely one of the best museums in the world which houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. The collections of sculptures and grave reliefs were captivating, and the artifacts which I normally were not so interested in were also fabulous.
Munich: Lenbachhaus
The Lenbachhaus is a villa which originally belonged to painter Franz von Lenbach and now is a city gallery which houses mainly 20th century and contemporary arts. It is most famous for the large collection of paintings of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group of expressionist artists established in Munich in 1911 which included among others the painters Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc, August Macke, Marianne von Werefkin, and Paul Klee. I pretty like the blue riders, especially Jawlensky.
Munich: Neue Pinakothek
Founded by King Ludwig I, it houses mainly European paintings and sculptures of the 18th and 19th centuries, and is now the world’s most important museum of art of the 19th century. It’s my favourite art period and the museum gives me lots of pleasant surprises. It is spacious and not crowded, and it contains many masterpieces. A free audio guide is offered to all visitors, and so one can spend a long time there appreciating the paintings leisurely with expert advice. Some of the more impressive works include:
Caspar David Friedrich: Summer
Egon Schiele: Agony, 1912
Gustav Klimt: Margaret stonborough-Wittgenstein, 1905
Van Gogh: Sunflower, 1888 (I was wondering why it wasn’t in Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam when I was there in July)
Max Liebermann: Munich Beer Garden, 1884
I admit that I was absolutely ignorant of Greek history and only found out by chance that it had been ruled by a Bavarian (King Othon) after its independence from Turkish rule from Munich’s Neue Pinakothek Museum.
A special room in the Museum was dedicated to Carl Rottmann, who painted 23 drawings called “Die Landschaften Griechenlands” (The Greek landscape) on commission by the Bavarian king Ludwig I. The king probably ordered these paintings as a reference for his youngest son, Otto, who became the king of Greece after its independence in 1832.
There’s a painting by Peter von Hess on “The entry of King Othon of Greece in Athens, 1839″.
And Leo von Klenze also offered an “Idealised view of the Acropolis and the Areopagus in Athens, 1846″.
It’s funny that I would have learnt more about Greece in Germany than when I was there.
After an overdose of modern art at Documenta 12 and overdose of ancient ruins in Italy and Greece, I was very much in need of something more relaxing to relent my tiresome nerves. Unexpectedly I found my cure in Munich centre on the German Unity Day (3 October).
With Oktoberfest going on I expected Munich to be filled with beer-thirst hordes, especially on the national day holiday. But apparently they limited their activities to the beer tents. On the Neuhauser strasse in city centre, all shops were closed, and pedestrians strolled leisurely under the warm sun. I was one of them, walking along the street and feeling very peaceful and relaxed. And I had the mood to enjoy some wonderful performances by the baskers. There were many of them: a trio string orchestra dressed in 18th century royal costumes playing Mozart; some Korean musicians with traditional musical instrument; guitarists and many others. The most impressive one was a xylophonist. He played one famous classical piece after another, from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to JS Bach’s Ave Maria. Just when I finally decided to walk away, as I was on my way to Residenz, he started playing Mozart, and the familiar notes of my all-time favourite - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - entered my ears. This work is an anti-stress panacea for me and it always cheers me up whenever I feel tired and unhappy. So I stayed on the street for a while longer.
By the time I got to Residenz (the palace where Bavarian kings lived), I had only 2 hours to see this 130-room palace and the treasury . Of course it’s not sufficient, especially since I had a free video guide which contained so much interesting information. The collections at the treasury were fantastic. All the gold and precious stones glittered everywhere in the exhibition rooms and the exquisite and sophisticated jewelleries were absolutely enthralling. Just the statue of St George (see below) was already worth the entrance ticket.
In the evening I went to a beer tent with my friend and we had a good time there, enjoying the atmosphere and watching people getting wild. While I was sipping beer from the heavy stein, I felt so good and relieved to be back to Germany after the trip to Italy and Greece. And then I realised how much I missed this safe and orderly country.
The heading summarised precisely what I have seen most during my trip to Italy (Rome and Tivoli) and Greece (Athens and Delphi).
Though I was very ill-prepared and lacked any historical and architectural information on these ruin sites, I could still imagine how grand and glory these buildings had once been via the descriptive texts and occasional reconstructed drawings. Strolling through the ruins, and seeing all the beautiful sculptures and amazing ancient artifacts, I just felt ever so strongly the transience of time and all things. This trip has surprisingly been a good buddhist lesson for me.
More photos from here.
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