Minerva Contemplates - But is it art?

Left: A statue by Antonio Solà contemplates a pail and some rags at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. Right: On closer inspection the pail says "Not a work of art", but who is to say?

We were in Rome for two nights to meet with friends who were visiting from the States. We spent some time with them and then they left the next morning to head back. We instead headed off to explore Rome where we came across the wonderful Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. It was one of the best museum experiences we had in a long time. The setting and the curation of the pieces were top notch.

The Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (or the National Modern and Contemporary Museum) is located on the edge of the Villa Borghese (a large park). It’s a pleasant walk if you are staying in the center of Rome and are up for it. The gallery was founded in 1883 and as the name says is dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

If you are like us, you might confuse these two terms. Modern art refers to the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s. Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century.

On our walk to the museum, there we have beautiful skies one minute and torrential rain the next. We took shelter under trees in Villa Borghese waiting for one squall to pass. But it was worth it. We saw many wonderful pieces at the museum from Albero Burri, Carlo Siviero, Cy Twombly, Emilio Vedova, Filippo di Pisis, Giacomo Balla, Giovanni Fattori, Guilio Aristide Sartorio, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Günther Uecker, Jannis Kounellis, Josef Albers, Lucio Fontana, Renato Guttuso, Richard Long, Tancredi, Tranquillo Cremona – just to name a few.


But the thing that grabbed us the most was something that wasn’t supposed to be art, or was it? It turns out the roof has some leakage problems in this museum and pails with rags were placed at various points in the gallery to catch the water. At first, we thought they were ART and we were looking for the information on the piece. But alas, they weren’t.

In the attached photo, a "real" work of art (a statue) called “Minerva” (1939) by Antonio Solà sits at the edge of room staring at a pail and some rags. On closer inspection, a note at the base of the pail says “Non è un'opera d'arte” translated as “Not a piece of art”. Or was it? Any composition – even if by staff – can be considered art, no?

The Mosaic and Marble Floors of Ostia Antica

We spent two days at Ostia Antica and in this post we’ll show a couple of the mosaic and marble floors we photographed. With links in the caption of the images you can go to the http://www.ostia-antica.org/ site and go into research about what the buildings were like that housed these floors. In general, we are adopting the naming for regio, insula, and room as given on the http://www.ostia-antica.org/ site. In this entry we are just showing the wonder of the floors. For more details on our trip to Ostia see this entry.

Terme del Foro - Deteriorating Floor
 

Piazzale delle Corporazioni - Stadio 54 and 55

Terme dei Sette Sapienti Tepidarium 21 and Round Room 7 

 

Sede degli Augustali 

 

Domus del Protiro - Different Patterned Floors, Marble and Mosaic  

Caupona di Alexander e Helix 

 

Caserma dei Vigili 

 

Terme dei Cisiarii

Terme di Nettuno


Domus di Amore e Psiche


Domus di Giove e Ganimede


Terme di Porta Marina


Terme del bagnino Buticosus


Domus della Fortuna Annonari


Terme dell’Invidioso


Unknown Location - Fragments

Two Days in Ostia Antica

Capitolium


Ostia Antica is an ancient Roman harbor city on the Tiber River. Due to silting and a drop in sea level, Ostia is now located several kilometers inland from the shoreline. The name of the city derives from the Latin “ostium” meaning mouth and referring to its long ago position at the mouth of the Tiber River. In the second and third centuries AD, Ostia was a vibrant city that contained many insulae (large apartment buildings) that functioned much like our modern mixed-used (retail on the ground floor and 2-4 stories of apartments above) structures. One of the best preserved is the Caseggiato di Diana (House of Diana). Scattered throughout Ostia there are mosaic and marble floors, usually associated with the numerous bath complexes found in the ancient city. Exploring the streets and remains of homes, warehouses, baths, and businesses –some still surprisingly intact – is the ultimate in snooping around. Turning a corner and stumbling onto an incredible mosaic floor off the main tourist paths is something quite special. Ostia is spacious (estimates vary, but 170+ acres), so there is plenty of to see; be prepared to wander around and soak up the ambience. In the early, sunny November days we visited in 2010, the ground was carpeted in green. Every step we took seemed to produce fragrant whiffs of mint and other herbs.

Visiting Ostia Antica could easily take two days. We had heard great reviews about it and had originally planned to spend one full day there. After the first day we decided that it was worth spending more time there and so we spent a second day there on our way down to Naples. Both days at Ostia we ate a late lunch at the café inside the archaeological complex and were happy with the price and choice of food. The café is located near the museum which is worth a visit.

Finally, before visiting Ostia it helps to read up on Ostia and Roman history. Two resources that we liked are the Ostia-Antica.org web site and the video The Roman Way of Life and Death at Ostia, the Port of Rome part of a series of Yale courses online. The Ostia-Antica.org web site has a travel guide and lots of other resources about Ostia including links to movies. The captions for some photos here refer back to the Ostia-Antica.org site. For views of different mosaic and marble floors of Ostia, see this entry.

View Over Ruins


Termopolio


Molino (Millstones that look like owls.)


Teatro Theater Mask and Theater



Ostia Antica Brochures

Musei Capitolini

The Capitoline Museums have their origins in a donation of bronze statues by Pope Sixtus IV in 1471. Yes, many popes were avid collectors of all things Greek and Roman. (Sixtus IV was also the pope who founded the Sistine Chapel.) The Capitoline Museums are located on the Campidoglio hill (these days hard to tell) just south of the “wedding cake or typewriter” Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. (There are some nice audio-guides .mp3 you can download, in different languages, from the Capitoline site above.)

This museum was the winner today for most interesting visit. More relaxed, less crowded, and easier to take in the collection than the Vatican Museum which was the opposite in all respects. There is also surprise view of the Forum, looking down from a part of the museum. As you cross from one part of the museum, under the piazza through a long passage, there is a sign indicating the viewpoint. For some interesting tidbits on what Michelangelo did to help design the Piazza Campidoglio read this.

In the Capitoline Museums there are the famous works: The Dying Gaul, Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius (real one now indoors and copy outside), Capitoline Venus, Lupa Capitolina, and a huge head and hand of Constantine I. As well, the new wing of the museum is build on top of and highlights the foundation of a huge temple to Jupiter. (Part was inside and part was outside in a garden. The reworked museum incorporates it all inside.) In this new section there is also an excellent layout of statues found in the Horti di Mecenate.

The museum is open to about 8pm so you can see it later in the day. We spent about 2 hours and regretted we hadn’t budgeted another 2 hours.

Villa Doria Pamphili

We took a long walk from where we had lunch (near Palazzo Farnese) to the Villa Doria Pamphili. The park is the largest public landscaped park in Rome as you can see from this map. It was full of Romans (modern ones that is) enjoying the Saturday weather. The Villa itself was closed but we enjoyed walking, basically from east to west. The park is split into two pieces by a footbridge connecting them. The footbridge is toward the south edge of the park. If you follow the main path you come to it. There is also a nice café near the bridge.

Ristorante Monserrato

Just a random choice in a small, lazy piazza, Ristorante Monserrato (Via Monserrat, 96) is not over the top but is good solid food, at least what we tried for lunch. It seems to specialize in fish dishes. Though, coming from Tuscany where fish is not commonly on the menu, maybe we were easily surprised by so much fish on the menu to think it was specializing in fish? The piazza is Piazza di Santa Caterina della Rota because the church of Santa Caterina della Rota (Saint Catherine of the wheel) is located there. (Saint Catherine broke the breaking wheel, so it’s her personal symbol.)

Musei Vaticani

This was our second and third time, respectively, in this museum. We were both lukewarm with this visit due to the fact that it was very crowded. Here are some words of wisdom on visiting the Vatican Museums.

+ Don’t go in the morning! Wait until noon or so. There could be a difference of a one hour wait compared to no wait. Why? Because, all the tour groups go in the morning and as well as all non-tour groups all seem to go in the morning. We went mid morning even though we read not to do it. Shame on us. Due to this or maybe unrelated, for us, the museum was unbelievably crowded. Wall to wall people on the Sistine-conga line. (I was determined to see the Raphael rooms since we’ve talked about them so much in my art class.) There are little bookshops to buy “things” every 200 yards. Honestly, it’s hard to tell if you are in an exhibit space or a bookshop half the time.

++ Don’t go to the museum thinking you will be able to take it all in at once! Not possible. Pick a section and go for it. Most people pick the Sistine chapel route which is a 2 hour conga line of people winding its way on a one way route to that chapel. Honestly, it’s better to view the Sistine chapel in pictures. Go as far as the Raphael rooms, if you must, and then backtrack and see something else. The whole museum is set up as a one-way people mover so going back to the beginning to pick a different route is hard. Just after entering the museum you have your choices of routes in the beginning.

+++ Bring or buy some kind of guide, or rent the audio tour or go on a tour. There is so little signage on anything. Okay, I’m taking about the Sistine-conga line specifically. The Raphael rooms have some placards but try getting near them. There were beautiful statues and other objects that were a mystery. (Okay, we could tell it was Hercules, but that’s about it. Not dates, not nothing.)

++++ Bring ear plugs so you don’t have to hear the guards shouting every 10 seconds “NO FLASH.” Believe me, you lose faith in humanity when people can not or refuse to follow simple instructions.

As we waited to go in the museum we were accosted with the usual: people handing out flyers to go eat something here or there, cheapo scarves, accordion music (“I’m a frito bandito…” etc.), beggars with deformities that had me gasping (like giggling, grapefruit-sized, growths on the head, really), and competitive tour companies trying to woo you out of line. Then, as we left – 1pm now and NO line, damn – you are accosted with knock-off purses, sunglasses, remote control cars, pens (a nice change from the usual), and sunglasses. Sigh.