The Borghese Gallery is an elegant palace and worldwide famous art museum with exceptional paintings by artists/sculptors, such as Caravaggio, Bernini and Raphael. Did I know any of this before now? No, an advantage of travel … often learning something new!
A couple of days prior, I visited the villa’s gardens, about one-quarter the size of NYC’s Central Park and third largest park in Rome. This large green space of trees has statues, monuments and plenty of quiet, shady places to sit. Or choose a bench nearby a musician … one was a saxophonist, further down the path an accordionist. A couple of artists with ink and paper, another with watercolor. I loved it!
My favorite place to sit at the Borghese gardens.Monuments throughoutOther places to sit away from main path.Secret Garden on the right, but area allowed no entry while work is being done.Borghese Galleria, Rome, Italy
The villa/galleria was never a residence from what I understand. It was Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621) who collected works and had favorite artists. On my guided tour I discover a new name: Caravaggio. (A few days later another person points out his work to me at a basilica.) Yes, now I see Caravaggio’s use of light!
Caravaggio’s Saint Jerome
Fortunately I used the galleria’s official website, before my visit, to be prepared in knowing some of the famous sculptures and paintings. I had come to truly appreciate Bernini’s sculptures! No doubt any individual who loves art and history puts this place on their itinerary.
Bernini’s The Truth What I discovered while looking closer, it was not a finished piece!Fingers are not done. Amazing how sculptor creates from a block of marble!
For many decades works were collected. But the family became bankrupt in the 19th century, so the Italian state owns it, all of it, and opened it all to the public in 1902! What a save! Here’s a few more photos, but nothing compared to what is there. Visit if you are interested in art!
Raphael’s workBust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese who started and collected for the family.Many beautiful rooms!
It’s a long drive from Alice Springs to Yulara in the Northern Territory of Australia where we stayed for 2 nights. Our breaks during the drive were at Stuart Wells Roadhouse, then Erlinda Roadhouse and most interesting a cattle station in Curtin Springs. The family has more than a million acres of land and Mt Conner is the giant mesa you see in the photo below. Mt Conner is one of the 3 huge rocks in this national park and it is composed of carmichael sandstone. We did not visit any closer to this mesa.
Mt Conner is the mesa
The next day, we had an hour-long drive to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Here we saw Uluru … you may remember I mentioned reading the book, Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback, in the mid-1980s, and wanting to see this monolith Uluru. It was called Ayers Rock by early European settlers, but the Anangu indigenous people, its spiritual caretakers, call it Uluru.
We took a couple of short walks as we drove around Uluru which is composed of arkose, a course grained sandstone rich in feldspar. One walk was at a waterhole, a great meditative place when no one else is around… not happening for me on this day, but a beautiful place otherwise! It’s also important to mention, various areas at the rock are closed to the public when the Anangu hold their traditional practices. This is their sacred rock and land and was handed back to them in 1985. Australians to this day as trying to unfold the history of this country. Committees and companies work with the aboriginal people to be more accurate with the history and understanding the need to recognize those people who came before the Europeans. Much more could be said; however, that in itself will prompt much discussion … another day.
Kapi Mutitjulu (Home of the Water Snake)
Another hike took us to the “kitchen” or otherwise the women’s area
The “kitchen” is huge and notice the rock’s texture here.
Then we hiked to a gorge with very high walls:
Kantju Gorge
Our goal was enjoy Uluru as the sunset; however, it was a light rain and cloudy. So we huddled under a bough (ramada with thatched roof) to have snacks and drinks. Here is Uluru:
Uluru at sunset; but there was no sun.
Next morning we were up and on our way at 5AM to see Uluru at sunrise. Now it is pouring rain, but we went anyway. Had coffee and biscuits, under a bough, and waited for the sun to rise. The water was pouring down the sides of the rock.
Uluru in the rain at sunrise. Bough at the right.
Pouring rain on Uluru!
Our guide showed us a photo of Uluru when the weather is sunny … of course that is also what I saw in the book many decades before … here it is:
Uluru on a sunny day; photo by Mark while on another tour
We returned to the hotel for breakfast; an hour later off for a hike at the third mountain in the national park: Kata Tjuṯa. This mountain has many large domes or “heads”, 36 of these formations I was told. As we walked the Walpa Gorge Walk you cannot help but notice the conglomerates in this rock: granite and basalt pebbles and cobbles held together with sand and mud. This walk was very wet, the rain was pouring. The wind almost blew a couple of people sideways and yet we kept walking! Water was flowing all over. Another woman referred to a swollen stream as a waterfall … not sure I agreed with that assessment, but everywhere you stepped it was wet!
Notice the size of just 2 of the domes in relation to the people in the photo!
Decided not to walk to the edge as everything was watery, slippery and wind-blown.
Looking at Kata Tjuta … all the domes together.
I spent the afternoon at lunch, viewing a movie, visiting an art gallery, checking out the small shops and trying to stay dry as it has been pouring rain, thunder and lightning all day. People here are used to rain 5 days out of the year and here we are on one of the days. The good thing was no bug-nets were needed today. Some folks wore them yesterday, but I was not particularly bothered by the flies. As spring weather warms up to summer, there will be more flies. I wished to find an aboriginal artwork, but nothing struck my attention and unfortunately with the rain on this day the women were not outside selling their work. One could buy a piece or 2 for $200 total. Their art with lines, circles and dots is colorful and interesting. At the art gallery I only saw pieces for $780 plus … actually I did see a couple for $360 … again, nothing struck my fancy, so no art from Australia for me. But here is some artwork from aboriginal artists:
My travel home to Arizona from Idaho was a direct route. I camped in the Provo/Springville, Utah area; however, wildfire smoke and heat kept me quickly moving south. First though, I wanted to meet my continued goal of finding a new place to visit, so I stopped at the Springville Museum of Art.
Wow, this museum is impressive! The community is celebrating its 100th Anniversary of the Spring Salon. In the 1920’s, Springville High School students hung their art work in the school and the community eventually built them a museum. The “Salon 100” exhibit celebrates the students with a documentary film, a copy of each year’s program and this year’s student art work.
Springville Museum of Art
My timing for this visit was perfect. It was also the 50th Annual Utah Quilt Show. Beautiful quilts hung on the walls. I could not imagine judging one better than another.
So many beautiful quilts!
There were other exhibits: Highlights from the Soviet Collection and new acquisitions. I have to share one display I found interesting. It was titled, “What do we unintentionally pass on to future generations?” I could have stood there reading the responses for awhile. Here are some:
“The dime stuck in-between the couch and the cushion.”
“Bias, beliefs, prejudice and love.”
“Expectations & The world we change in the meantime.”
Plenty to see at this museum! For my impromptu visit, it was wonderful! How did I happen to discover this museum? I was driving to a grocery store, saw a sign for a museum a couple miles further down the road, and decided to check it out. They were open! The rest is now history.
My latest art lessons, with specific sketching instruction or painting technique, have been from artists in different locations. I am more aware recently because I often travel when some art lessons are being offered.
An in-person class at the local botanical garden is wonderful when I am in town. If I am not available to attend the class, there is no recording to catch the lesson another time. I would have missed my “Draw Like Van Gogh” opportunity; thankfully I was in attendance!
Van Gogh’s drawing of this is much better!
Art lessons via zoom allow me to connect with a New York City artist at the original airing of the lesson. Or if I miss it, I typically have 2 weeks to download the recording and watch the lesson. This is quite easy to accomplish when the original airing or recording happens and I am at home. However, when on the road, not so easy. My last zoom lesson was during my camping-travel days. Some campgrounds have no wifi and/or wifi not powerful enough for all the streaming programs wanting to be downloaded by their campers.
I had an upcoming zoom art lesson. With possible questions I had for the instructor, attending the original airing seemed important. My solution was to find a Starbucks! Fortunately the music playing at this particular Starbucks was loud enough to drown out the audio of my zoom lesson. (I do not have headphones for my laptop.) In the end I had no questions, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
I do like zoom lessons. To attend the zoom lesson as scheduled and review the lesson within the following 2 week period of time is valuable. Or, plan to watch the recording if missing the live lesson; thank you technology!
I have upcoming art lessons while I travel to the east coast of the USA. I need to plan where I will hopefully watch the original airing and/or the recording. When at a location with good wifi, I discovered YouTube is a site to view many art lessons. Will check it out.
My art lessons will continue as I discover my artistic style. I am no Van Gogh, but here was my attempt of a local area using what I see as his technique:
