Travel for Pennies

In an area of the city best known for its Medieval Architecture, The Meseu Picasso can be found. This neighborhood is a short walk from the top Barcelona hotels.

A visit to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona is essential for understanding the formative years of Pablo Ruiz Picasso. The genius of the artist is revealed through the more than 3,800 works that make up the permanent collection and illustrate the artistic evolution from the time of his early works.

The Museu Picasso, which opened in 1963, also reveals his intimate relationship with the city, a permanent relationship that was shaped in his adolescence and youth, and continued until his death. Picasso lived in Barcelona during his formative years and most important, during the years of his apprenticeship as an artist. He established and maintained strong links to the city throughout his life and it was here where he wanted to leave the imprint of his art.

Because of Picasso’s opposition to the Franco regime, it was impossible to open a museum bearing his name. This explains why the original museum was opened under the name of the Sabartés Collection.   The collection at the time of the opening in 1963, was comprised of Sabartés’s personal possessions and the Picasso works from the Barcelona Museums of Art. Thanks to the wishes of Picasso and his friend and personal secretary, Juame Subartes, Barcelona now exhibits the earliest work of one of the twentieth century’s most significant artists. The collection, which includes watercolors, oils and other medium, spans from 1896 to 1969.  Highlights include a Portrait of the Artists Father, Still Life, Harlequin and Las Meninas. There is a very large print collection, which is now displayed in the rooms opened in the beginning of 2008.

Picasso would always keep his ties with Barcelona despite his having lived in other European countries for most of his life. The Museu Picasso in Barcelona is the ultimate expression of his strong links with the city and was created according to the personal requirements of Picasso.

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The celebration of Carnaval has been around for centuries. The festival traditionally occurs around the days before Lent and ushers in a time of revel, chaos and abandon. The annual celebration in Barcelona certainly fulfills this. The two-week mega party in Barcelona usually takes place in February though sometimes it runs later into March. It is almost an understatement to say that streets are crowded during this time, it’s actually more like they’re inhibited. Costumes are popular with the old and young, and everyone in-between. Many tourists from out of town flock to the Barcelona boutique hotels and the rooms fill quickly.

Carnaval had been banned in Spain in 1938 by the dictator Franco and it remained illegal to celebrate this time-honored event for 40 years. It was only reestablished in 1981, though it lost none of its gusto and significance in that time. Barcelona quickly stepped right back into step and each year the locals take to the streets in costumes that are typically associated with Halloween. One of the original intentions with the parade was to make fun of or laugh at that which was typically grotesque or frightening. This included the archetypical characters of demons, devils, witches and more, which is the reason for the continued use of costume.

Another important aspect of traditional Carnaval celebration is the turning upside down of standard order and social roles. It is a time when anything goes and there is a huge focus on sexual expression and licentiousness. Nothing lasts forever though, and this includes the mayhem of Carnaval. The indulgences culminate in a frenzied party on Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras. The following morning marks the beginning of Lent when the party stops. In Barcelona there is another ceremony to mark this transition, El Entierro de la Sardina “the burial of the Sardine.” This is a symbolic reference as it alludes to the burial of the decadence and a return to order. It also represents the period of eating fish instead of meat.

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Pablo Neruda was Chilean born, and is now considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th Century.  He was born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, but changed his name in part as teenage fashion and in part to hide the fact that he was writing poetry, to hide if from his father.  As then is as it is now, with parents wanting their children to choose practical and sensible careers, not those so unpredictable as a life in the arts.  So ironically funny today, as stated before he is the influential poet of his time, and then some.  A poet who because of his writings and political activism received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.  What would his father say today?  Fellow Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is quoted as naming Neruda the most influential poet of all time.  He was forced to go into exile because of his controversial writings, but was later given jobs as a diplomat in Argentina and Barcelona, relishing in the city life and experiences in the cafes and 5 star Barcelona hotels.  He was much the center of late nite literary circles, as was Dorothy Parker in the days of the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan.  Proof that the arts, and writing specifically in this case has an effect, not only on those partaking in the late night conversations, but the world in general.

As diplomat and consul in Madrid he became well known and saw a side of government that forever affected is soul and his writings.   The beginning of the Spanish Civil war put Neruda in the political, rather than the literary, public eye.  He desired a more communal way of life, not that communes were the way, but communal in feel, people taking care of each other in general life and society.  It was during this time that he became, quite self-proclaimed and not named by others as part of the ‘Red Scare’, communist.  He was compelled after the shooting execution of fellow poet and friend, Spanish born poet Francisco Franco.  Through his work during this time, he was appointed by the Spanish Government as the consul in Paris.   It was a political position he did not seek out, often commenting that he put his everything into something that he never wanted.  His most noble of missions.   Many familiar with his writings on politics, society and love may beg to differ.  Regardless, he was a man of his time, and a man for all times.

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