Contemporary Art at Maxxi

Near the entrance to Maxxi, the Zaha Hadid-designed art museum

After we had our fill of classical art at Galleria Borghese, we took a completely different turn and went modern at Maxxi, a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Flaminio district in Rome.

Inside there are numerous staircases and rooms to enter

The museum is also appropriately housed in a building designed by the late Zaha Hadid, who was chosen from among 273 candidates from around the world.

We didn't really get a good look of the outside, but inside it was very sleek, lots of curves and straight lines, nothing symmetrical either.

While the building was a piece of art in itself, the contemporary art was hard for us to understand! There were lots of strange videos one would see at Art Basel and leave you wondering:

a) How did you come up with this idea?
b) Why did you come up with idea?
c) What does this mean?
d) Does it really take art to another level?

Chinese characters and French words written in sheet metal

When we visited Maxxi, the exhibition "African Metropolis. An Imaginary City" was on. Again most of it we didn't really understand, but a few pieces were very interesting.

One of them was called "Wo Shi Feizhou/Je Suis Africain by Francois-Xavier Gbre. It's a series of mixed media, but what was particular interesting was what was written on sheet metal.

It was a triptych of three dark pieces of sheet metal and there were Chinese and French words written in three columns.

The ones on the far left were Chinese characters in simplified Chinese, followed by French words, then more simplified Chinese characters in parentheses. For a Chinese person living in Africa, this was a kind of cheat sheet. The word they wanted to say was on the far left, but was pronounced in French like the characters on the far right.

A close-up of the words and pronunciation!

For us who could read some Chinese this was very funny but also interesting!

Another work we liked was a photograph by Kiluanji Kia Henda with the title "Le Merchand de Venise" or the Merchant of Venice.

In the description the artist pays homage to the play by William Shakespeare by having a Senegalese musician dressed in brightly striped clothing and on his arms are what at first glance look like designer bags, but in fact are fake; this is his way of trying to make a living in Venice, much like many other African street vendors.

Henda's photo looks striking at first, but when you realize what is going on it's actually very ironic, but in a subtle way.

The Merchant of Venice by Henda

We pretty much finished going through the museum in an hour and waited for others in our group by hanging out in the museum shop that also had a cafe that served fantastic coffee for 1.50 euros!

Afterwards we took the tram back to Flamino metro station and then took the train back to our hotel.

Art Everywhere at Galleria Borghese

Apollo chases Daphne as she turns into a tree

The day after we returned to Rome the weather was terrible -- in the morning there were heavy rains and just as we were about to wait, a guy wandering around selling umbrellas appeared at the hotel door.

There's lots of art to see inside Galleria Borghese

We quickly bought three umbrellas and then headed out to Piazza del Popolo by metro. It started to rain again so we sought refuge in the one on the left, Santa Maria di Montesanto. Inside it's very grand with a dome at the top.

It just so happened that a small choir was warming up and it was so nice to hear their voices fill the large church. The rain wouldn't let up so we decided to wait it out with an early lunch.

After some pizza, pasta and salad, we headed to Villa Borghese, which is above Piazza del Popolo. In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, began to turn the former vineyard into an extensive garden.

The walls and ceilings are also covered in art

It was built in the English style, and was later opened to the public in 1903. Today it is the third-largest public park in Rome. We had a heck of a time trying to find Galleria Borghese or the Borghese Museum -- the signage in the park is terrible and not only we got lost but another American couple too. We had to ask around for directions.

Not only were we lost, but we also had to get there at a certain time -- our tickets were for two hours. We finally found it, and then had to check-in all our bags and umbrellas. It's just as well because as soon as you walk into the museum, there are sculptures everywhere and best not to knock them over!

It features the massive collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and it boggles the mind how much money he had to acquire all these paintings and statues. But not only that, the rooms themselves are covered in murals, many in trompe l'oeil, or paintings that look three dimensional decorations like curtains and extra balconies and interior decoration.

There are many famous pieces in this museum. One of my favourites is Apollo and Daphne by Bernini around 1622. It shows the moment when Apollo is pursuing Daphne, but she begins to turn into a tree -- her legs start to become the trunk, while leaves are sprouting from her fingers.

A gorgeous statue of Pauline Bonaparte in marble

While Bernini was working on this statue, he abandoned it for a while to work on another one called David, based on the story of David and Goliath.

Bernini was only 24 years old at the time, but had the skills and maturity to produce these life-size statues. Here David looks like he is about to use his sling shot, and the viewer can see the determination on David's face as well as him putting all his physical strength into defeating Goliath.

Another gorgeous statue by Antonio Canova is of Pauline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon. She first married a French general, Charles Leclerc, who died in 1802, and then she married Camillio Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona.

Can you see Cardinal Borghese's forehead crack?

Here she is reclining on a chaise lounge and casually draped. The sculpture is so beautiful not only capturing her beauty, but the detail especially in the creases in the fabric of the chaise lounge captured in marble. She looks very delicate, graceful and elegant.

Finally, there are two busts of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, both by Bernini, and they stand almost side by side in one room, which makes you look at both of them carefully to try to figure out what is different.

It turns out the one on the left was done first, but it was found to have a crack inside the marble right where the cardinal's forehead is. As he was the client, he wasn't happy with it and asked for another bust of him be carved; Bernini obliged.

The Galleria Borghese has exhibitions periodically and when were there, it was a show of sculptures by Pablo Picasso! What a contrast! Some rooms showed off classical statues that were off set by Picasso's minimalist ones, some to comic effect.

Picasso's sculptures next to Greco-Roman ones

Some were of Greco-Roman heads, contrasting with Picasso's cubist ones, or his famous goat alongside some other more lifelike animals. Too funny!