GLOBAL BAROQUE & EDVARD MUNCH
There are a lot of exhibits in Rome this year and the Tandem Spirts don’t want to miss them. While some won’t end until September, we want to avoid going to Rome in July and August. So, we are trying to see as many as we can before the end of June.
Our scheduled date just happened to coincide with that of Pope Francis’s funeral. Rome was mobbed with people, but we were not going near the Vatican nor would we be along the route for the funeral procession from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore. In addition to the throngs of people, security was extremely tight. On prior visits this year we’ve noticed an increase in police presence due to the Jubilee, but there were even more this year, in some places they were also controlling the crowds crossing the street along main intersections.
The Scuderie della Quirinale - Global Baroque
We walked from the train station to the Scuderie della Quirinale for the first exhibit, Global Baroque: the World in Rome in the Age of Bernini. This exhibit highlighted works that provided a glimpse of a multi-cultural Rome where both politics and religion provided a backdrop for exchanges of cultural knowledge, understanding and misunderstanding. The Baroque era, roughly spanning the 17th and early 18th centuries, is characterized by its dramatic, ornate, and emotionally charged style in art, music architecture and literature.
We had seen a few of these pieces at the Galleria Borghese, but most of the 100 on display were new to use. As in some other exhibits, there was a fascination with the flora and fauna of the Americas. One thing that stood out were the Mexican clerical vestments made from silk, linen and bird feathers.
Lunch at Piccolo Arancio
After the exhibit we walked down to a restaurant we’ve been to before in this area, Piccolo Arancio. It is not far from the scuderie, and is on a small side-street. It was a perfect day to sit outside. We each had a Roman artichoke for an appetizer. James had tagliatelle with swordfish, eggplant and cherry tomatoes, Virginia had the ricotta cheese ravioli in an orange cream sauce. We shared a 1/2 liter of house white wine and finished with a nice espresso. James also had a Jefferson amaro.
Post Lunch Wandering!
We had some time after lunch so we wandered over to the colosseum. We never get tired of walking along the via deli Fiori Imperiali, with the colosseum on one end and the Victor Emmanuel Monument, il Vittoriano, on the other.
Palazzo Bonaparte - Edvard Munch: The Inner Scream
We arrived at Palazzo Bonaparte a few minutes early for the exhibit Edvard Munch, the Inner Scream, but we were admitted immediately. Palazzo Bonaparte was the home of Letizia Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s mother. We have seen a number of exhibits here.
The only painting we knew by Munch is “the Scream”. We were curious to find out what else he had done. His use of color is striking. He often did a number of paintings on a given theme reflecting various cycles of life. In spite of the bold colors, many of the pieces displayed were melancholic.
We had time for a leisurely stroll back to termini to catch the train back to Foligno.
