The kids wanted to head to the beach on our final day in Barcelona but I just didn’t have the energy for it and was looking for something more low key. Kate had wanted to go to the Picasso museum and Zeke and Jane said they were interested too. I didn’t want to let Theo stay in all day and watch TV, and since the Picasso museum was free to kids I thought what better place to let them get a little walking out. We made it there simple enough and after a 20 minute wait in line, we were in. From the get go I planned to stay exclusively with Theo and Maeve and let Kate enjoy PIcasso with the older kids at her pace. No photos were allowed so I don’t have any shots of the pictures that were remarkable. The collection started when Picasso was just 11. Already showing signs of greatness. He was a recognized painter by the time he was 18. I tried to keep Picasso interesting for Theo and Maeve, explaining that he had a passion for painting. Including when his family went on vacation to Malaga (near Fuengirola) where he took his paints with him. I told Theo and Maeve that his parents probably told Picasso to stop with the painting the same way we told Theo and Maeve to turn off the TV. We stopped and enjoyed any painting the kids noticed. Theo thought this gal was not to be trusted. Explaining later that she had narrow eyes and a bit of a smirk to her smile.
The museum had a couple of displays where the same painting was displayed multiple times over. Each time Picasso had altered the painting slightly or not so slightly. In particular, a painting he submitted for a competition while he was in school, showed how he had rearranged his father, mother, a nurse and a baby around a bed until he got the composition just right. Changing the angle of the sick mother’s head, or the color of the bedsheet or cabinet. Both the kids and I enjoyed that one.
They also had a great audio-visual showing all the variations Picasso had done on Velazquez’ Las Meninas, that showed the original Velazquez work and how Picasso’s work related to it.
And now brace yourself… Maeve, of course, had to wear her Flamenco dress out again on the last day. Caught this near perfect shot of her at Picasso’s museum…
The night before, on La Rambla, the we’d been trying to tell her to put a hat out and make a little money for us doing some Flamenco performances. She was game and was upset when she noticed that none of us had remembered a hat or worn a hat that night. But when we got down there, she lost her confidence. I think she would’ve made a killing.
As we waited for some last day shopping by Kate, the kids practiced taunting passers by into taking a photo, then covering Maeve up and asking for a Euro before allowing the shot.
Zeke said they got no takers, but one guy wanted a shot only to walk away when they asked for a Euro.
After shopping we headed back for lunch and downtime. Later that night I took Zeke, Theo and Maeve up to Montjuic to see the Magic Fountain that I’d seen nights before on one of my runs. Unfortunately I hadn’t noticed that the fountain ran only Thursday through Sunday. We sat for awhile, with a fair number of other confused attendees. Then gave up hope. Zeke asked one of the vendors in Spanish and found out that the show was only certain days of the week. Oh well, at least we got to see the 1992 Olympic Stadium, and this beautiful communication tower sculpture,
and get some ya-yas out.
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