Barcelona is among the most artful and vibrant cities I’ve ever visited. Every corner you turn…
The Basilica Santa Croce is one of the most important architectural and historical masterpieces of Florentine art you’ll find in the magnificent Renaissance city of Florence. Its iconic structure overpowers the square and seems to beckon visitors to come inside. Whereas some people are disappointed in visiting the interiors of the Duomo, this church is thoroughly fantastical, inside and out! I’ve attached at the bottom of this post a handy google map of all the different spots on this tour for easy-to-follow directions!
If you’re anything like me, your house is one of the best little peaks into your personality. In each and every corner of my house, I have curated little galleries dedicated to the things which inspired me, which tell stories of my past and keyholes in my future. A home is the most private place in a person’s world, a place where they can feel whole and safe. For Frida Kahlo, this could not be truer. Her home, La Casa Azul or “the blue house”, was the place where she was born, grew up, learned to be an artist, lived with her husband, got divorced and remarried, and where she eventually died. It was her sanctuary but also her cage since for most of her life she was bedridden from injury and sickness. She spent more years of her life inside these cerulean walls than perhaps anywhere else in the world and as such, it is one of the most intimate looks into her life you can experience.
If you’re visiting Lisbon in late spring, early summer, you’ll have the chance to see something truly spectacular at the Carmo Convent. The Carmo Convent is already a pretty astonishing place, but from May to July, when the sun sets, there is a phenomenal transformation which it undergoes. This phenomenon is called ‘Lisbon Under Stars’. In 2018 over 30,000 people came to see this award-winning show and in 2019 those numbers should almost double since they added another month onto the performances dates due to its overwhelming popularity. I was lucky enough to see the show when we were travelling to Lisbon this summer. I was really blown away by the performance and the technical ingenuity it took to bring the whole piece together.
Graffiti in Barcelona will always be part of the city. The city became a center of fashion, design, art and creativity after the Olympics in 1992. The new art expression became popular in Barcelona. As a consequence, many Graffiti artists visited the city just to paint a part of the city.
In a city filled with incredible architectural masterpieces from Gaudi, there is another architect who often gets forgotten. And yet he is perhaps just as influential in terms of founding the Catalan art form of ‘modernism’. His name is Lluís Domènech i Montaner and one of his best designs is the Palau de la Música Catalana. The Catalan style of architecture called ‘modernism’ was developed to support a new Catalan identity.
When I first visited Washington D.C. I thought it would be nothing more than plain white political powerhouses and generic American architecture. Boy was I wrong! I was shocked to see what a beautiful city this was. The central sightseeing portion of this city is extremely walkable so its easy to just wander around from place to place taking snapshots of the bright, bold and brilliant art and architecture which makes Washington such an incredible place to visit.
One way which I love to explore a city, especially for the first time, is through their works of art. Both historical and right up to modern day. Art teaches us about the culture of people who made it. What was important to them, what moved them, what inspired them? Even what shaped them.
Venice is a city which seems to dazzle everyone who enters. It glows. It sparkles. It surprises. But behind all that shimmer and shine, there are all those same dark corners and less than perfect experiences to be had. Avoid all the following things to ensure you have the best vacation in this magical floating city.
The Heavenly Bodies collection at the Cloisters focuses on the quiet, reflective nature of faith. The outfits are more complicated, require more thought and observation, and due to the remote location, allows you to have a more personal experience with the objects.
The Byzantine Galleries focus on designers who were influenced by Sacred Spaces; the interior of Cathedrals and churches, and who brought elements from those spaces into the garments. The dresses are paired with fragments of floor mosaics from the 5th century as well as pieces of Byzantine jewellery and silverware. The mannequins each stand high aloft of tall plinths. The dresses are still clearly visible and yet are somewhat separated from the historical art along the walls.