Page 100 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

98  HA V ANA AREA B Y AREA

Exploring the Museo Nacional de
Bellas Artes

During the reassessment of many of Cuba’s cultural
institutions after 1959, a large number of works were added
to the original museum collection – the result of the
confiscation of property that had been misappropriated.
The collection was divided into two sections: Cuban and
international art. The first consists of paintings, prints,
drawings, and sculptures; the second has paintings,
sculptures and drawings primarily from Europe, the US
and Latin America, with some works dating from the
Egyptian to the Roman age.

Among the finest works in
Centro Asturiano the collection are the Flemish
(International Art)
paintings and the 19th-century Clotilde en los Jardines de la Granja by
The building, designed in Spanish pictures, including Joaquín Sorolla
1927 as the home of one by Joaquín Sorolla: Entre
the collection of Naranjos (1903). In this including one by Canaletto:
international art, the artist depicts Chelsea College, Rotunda,
has maintained its a banquet in the Ranelagh House and the Thames
original architectural countryside, using (1751), in which the painter
elements, with the play of the brilliantly renders the atmosphere
furnishings, iron grilles, figures, light and of London. There is also a scene
stained-glass windows shadow to create of Venice by Francesco Guardi,
and chandeliers. Besides an Impressionist- The Lagoon in front of the
the gallery, the place also like atmosphere. Fondamenta Nuove, a youthful
has communal areas for The same can be said work with the delicate rend ering
the public, study rooms, a of the movement of that characterized his later
book shop, café, a video the water and the pro duction. Other Italian works
room and an auditorium. Head of the god Amon, garden in the are St Christopher by Jacopo
The collection of ancient Egyptian background in Bassano (c.1515–92), Alpine
international art sculpture Clotilde en los Landscape with Figures by
comprises paintings Jardines de la Granja, Alessandro Magnasco (1667–
and sculptures displayed in which is a portrait of the artist’s 1748), and The Spinstress by
specific sections. These include wife. Other Spanish artists Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. The
the Middle Ages, Italy, Germany, represented are Murillo and Reception of a Legation by Vittore
Flanders, the Netherlands, Great Zurbarán. Then there are works Carpaccio (1490) has a rigor ously
Britain, France and Spain. There by Constable, Bouguereau and symmetrical composition.
are also works from various Van Mieris. The ancient art section is
European schools, the United The Italian collection includes also fascinating: Greek, Roman
States and Latin America. a group of landscape paintings, and Egyptian works, as well as
Mesopotamian, Phoenician
and Etruscan finds. The 5th-
century BC Greek amphora
and the Fayoum portraits are
especially interesting.

Palacio de Bellas Artes
(Cuban Art)
The permanent exhibition of
18th–21st-century Cuban art
offers a complete overview of
works by individuals and
schools, and highlights the
leading trends in each period.
The temporary exhibition of
prints and drawings, as well as
One of the many views that Canaletto painted of London of paintings, adds variety and

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