Dearest Friends: Today I hit the MNBA, or Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and despite reports along the lines of "they got the ugly Rodins," I enjoyed it very much. Their website isn't at all bad and has excellent photos of part of their permanent collection, if anyone is interested. Scandal of late has been that during the military dictatorship much of their "good" stuff was secretly sold off to private collectors. I suspect it was.
Pretty much all the usual suspects, Cezanne, Chagall, Renoir, Van Gogh, Corot, Manet, very large Degas collection, Miro, Sisley, Kandinsky, etc., and, of course, Rodin. They did have a few nice ones by Goya y Lucientes, that I liked very much (all very dark and tragic and/or seedy) and a couple by some Dutch guys with a wicked sense of humor. There's also a pre-Colombian section (I've seen so much it no longer really interests me) and some of the earlier European religious stuff (ditto, with exceptions, of course, especially if prostitutes, heretics or the damned are involved). And on the second floor there's a collection of Argentine art -- not half bad. I'll need to go back and spend some time, but I was actually surprised by many of the pieces. Also some good abstract stuff, which I never really go for, but this was worth a first and perhaps a second look.
Like in Chile, what I really liked was that there were people in the museum, not just tourists. There were several couples and single parents with their children and by far my favorites were a grandfather/granddaughter team (maybe 10 or 11 years old) who were perfect. I was able to sneak a picture of them, which I'll post on Blogo. As you can see, I go to museums as much for people watching as for the art.
BT
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