Art "transportation" supplement - Portugal

Something that I failed to include in my Portuguese art entry is all the intriguing public art, especially in their transportation system.  Most of it is ceramic (of course, it's Portugal), very large, and very visible; it is said that a great tour of current Portuguese ceramic art can be had just by riding their subway system.

The Mad Hatterish rabbit above was one of a series of very similar rabbits that graced the Cais do Sodre metro station, an "end of the line" station near where we stayed in Lisbon.   You can't tell from the picture here, but they were each about ten feet tall.

The five below are of ceramics at various other Lisbon subway stops.  (BTW, the Lisbon subway was a clean and efficient, and even I could understand every stop name when announced - Chicago EL drivers need not apply.)

Below, a ceramic mural on the exit/entrance of an auto tunnel in Porto, Portugal.

And to the left and below are pictures of the huge, mainly open air, modernistic Oriente train station in Lisbon (and once again, the Portuguese, and the Spanish railway systems are ones that we would do well to emulate in the US - fast, clean, efficient, smooth riding and always on-time).  The pictures show the open air hub area with tracks and boarding on the top floor to the right and left.

Lastly, below are several pictures of a fascinating, fishnet like sculpture that appears at first glance to hang in the air unsupported - in a roundabout on a fishing village's seafront area in Matosinhos, outside of Porto.  It is titled "She Changes" and was designed by Janet Echelman, an American artist.

Gargoyles - Portugal

Gargoyles, as you know, are carved stone figures used to convey water off a roof, through a spout, and generally out the mouth of the figure to avoid water damage to roof and walls of the building.  Often referred to as grotesgues, they are, in fact, usually quite grotesgue.  They are pretty common in this part of the world, especially on churches, where they seem to be de rigueur, and often on public buildings as well.  Not so many back in the US where our buildings are not of gothic age and where perhaps our mind set goes to a sparer, cleaner, more utilitarian functionality anyway.  Below are a few we saw in Portugal, including some at work, due to the rainy weather we experienced in northern Portugal.

The comparatively harmless looking fellows above were on the Mosterio dos Jeronimos cloister in Lisbon.

These two guys show a bit more attitude - they were at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, also in Lisbon.

The snarling guy on the left was on the roof of the Pena Palace in Sintra.  His companionon here on the right was at work on the roof of the Museu Arquelogico, a converted convent in Faro.

Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, of which Nancy wrote previously, with its extensive grounds and gothic-baroque buildings provided a lot of options for this blog - here an additional example.

The guy on the left was spitting rain water when we visited the Coimbra University library - rainy days have their blessings.

And the two above along with the one on the right were working at the Porto Cathedral cloister when we visited there during what turned into a heavy downpour.  It was nice to be inside and dry, watching these old guys hard at work.

Okay, not a gargoyle.  But isn't it nice to end with such a sweet looking creature?  (Palacio Nacional de Sintra)

Wildflowers!

The heavy rains that plagued our first three weeks in Portugal laid the foundation for a glorious wildflower bloom in southern Portugal and Spain.  It has brought to mind the Italian blown glass  millefiore -- thousands of multicolored flowers.   Of types, varieties that are somewhat familiar, but not identifiable with my waning garden knowledge.  I hope this sort of display awaits our very wet Chicago area friends.   

As I write, we're packing to leave Granada where we've been for close to a week.  There's a young Spaniard sitting on our tiny street, right under our kitchen window playing his guitar (today's not the first time, and he stays for a couple of hours).  Close to heaven.  

What follows is mostly just photos because I know so little about them.  First, some seaside flowers:

Brooomrape (argh), along a barrier island in southern Portugal.  Weird, asparagus-like .

Ice plants, on a barrier island in southern Portugal.

Further inland now.  The land is forested, frequently with ancient cork groves.  Most of the world's cork is grown in Portugal.  Haven't met a screwtop bottle of wine here yet -- and we've met many.

Lupine like foliage . . .

Irises growing wild.

Orchid like pink flowers.  

Cork trees in the distance.  Below, a marked cork tree, likely harvested in 2008.  Perhaps its unharvested cork is visible in the upper part?

These gazania-looking flowers were prolific in southern Portugal.

Poppies in the sun on a hillside. in Spain

Red poppies in the center.

Coast of southern Portugal. 

Wealth of pollinators.  

Snails!

Now, clearly planted stuff: 

Organized olive groves as far as the eye can see.  Southern Spain, taken from a train.

The wisteria's been in bloom in Andalusia, as it was in Portugal.  So fragrant, and the flowers are tasty, too

Fragrant Brugmansia in bloom.

Art sampler - Portugal

There is, of course, a lot of religious art in Portugal, but Portugal also has a lot of lovely and interesting art that isn't religious.  A sampling of a few of the things that I especially liked follows.

Both of the items above are from hundreds of wonderful antiquities and traditional art at the Gulbenkian Art Museum in Lisbon.  The 6ft case clock on the left was made in Paris in 1730 of oak and bronze, and was working perfectly, with the correct time, ticking away in the otherwise quiet gallery when we saw it.  The item on the right is a dragonfly woman's corsage ornament, a piece from a special exhibit of art nouveau work designed by Rene Juls Lalique.  It was about 6 inches in length.

This piece was completely made of metal and is entirely supported by the seemingly limp, dangling (but metal) strands "hanging" from it.  It is called "During Sleep" and was created by Rui Chafes.  It is on exhibit at the Centro de Arte Moderne (another Gulbenkian supported institution) in Lisbon.

This sleek, clever piece is called "L'homme qui marche, et la femme aussi," was created by Angelo de Soussa and resides in the Museu Coleccao Berordo in the Belem Cultural Center.

These two works, also from the Museu Colaccao Berordo, were created by Binelde Hyrcan.  The one on the left is called "Let's Talk" and, unfortunately, I did not note the title of the one on the rught.  Hyrcan seems to enjoy making satirical statements about politicians, military, and grand self-important types in general, using chickens to accentuate the absurdity of their posturing.

This was also at the same museum.  While not technically art, I guess, I wanted to include this because I enjoyed it as art.  On the left you see the men's and women's restrooms - note on the right how the woman's image is made up of a variety of smaller female shapes.

In an Evora park, kissers - not idealistically formed.

I just liked her - in Porto's main square, with some bad dudes' heads below.

In Matosinhos, on the beach, a sculpture of women bemoaning their menfolk lost at sea.

                                                                                         "Charity" for a 1902 tomb, seen in Porto's Francisco

                                                                                                              church museum catacombs where it was moved in 1981.

"Mulher con cesto" - Woman with basket, on roadside in the mountain town of Monchique.

There are several Roman ruins in Portugal - there was a Roman presence there for a long time.  Some of them have some really nicely maintained/restored ceramic tiling.  Below are from the ruins near Conimbrigo, outside of Coimbra.

The Romans saw the swastika as a good luck symbol.

Nice lion!

This winged lion fountain is in front of the University of Porto.

Livrario (bookstore) Lello in Porto.

The bookstore had a gorgeous, outlandish baroque look.

The bookstore had a gorgeous, outlandish baroque look.

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