and now, the end is near..

And fittingly, I'm having a vaguely frustrating day. Nothing too bad, just sometimes I notice a small thing that would make the whole experience better and its frustrating that it wasn't done.

For example, I went to the much-hyped (by guidebooks anyway) Picasso Museum in Malaga. I'm leaving the next day so haven't travelled out of the way for this. I'm interested to see how they'v treated his work as they apparently got a lot of the collection from the family (Malaga is his birthplace).

Actually I can't comment on the entire collection as some of it was in galleries being renovated. However, what was frustrating was that no context was given for any of the work. I tried to work it out as I walked through, thinking it'd be standard chronology but there was no reminders as to when he was born/ how old he was or who the sitters were, and certainly no pointers as to "this piece being interesting as it shows a divergence from his so-far naturalistic approach" etc.). The National and the Tate(s) are usually quite good at this, and if the information is not informative or Art-critic arsey then it can be ignored. But to have nothing... It left me confused and suspecting that it was a ruse so as not to highlight massive gaps in the collection. In one room there was a 'hole' of 10 years not represented...

anyway, some really interesting pieces nonetheless. An early sculpture really grabbed my attention - it was a woman's head, and though the physicality of the head was powerful, the profile was delicate. Also he'd scored into it fine lines for eyes and mouth which played across this powerful shape with the wit and rhythm that his brushwork showed (presumably later in his career).

ah well, London tomorrow.
and in the words of those great philosopers Ren & Stimpy:
"Happy, happy,
Joy, joy..."