Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Austria and Prague 2019 - Leopold Museum and Insomnia

The Leopold Museum features early 20th century Viennese art, furniture, objects and fashion. The collection includes many works by both Gustav Klimt, an artist whose work I was eager to become better acquainted with, and the dark, harsh vision of Oskar Kokoschka. Balancing out Mr. Kokoschka are the lovely landscapes of the late 19th and early 20th century female artist Olga Wisinger Florian. Some of the furniture is full of the flowing lines and graceful silhouettes of the Art Nouveau movement. The strong, geometric lines of other pieces foreshadow the Art Deco movement soon to come. The ceramics and glassware are sensuous examples of utilitarian objects being elevated to the status of art. The collection is small but strong, well curated and intensely focused.

As we left we were beginning to struggle with the lack of sleep over the previous 24 hours. It is suggested that you stay awake until your normal bedtime hour to mitigate the effects of jet lag. Our brains and bodies were like jelly, staying awake was not possible and we found ourselves passing out at 5 p.m.  Unfortunately this led to both my husband and me lying in bed talking about this and that at 3 a.m. our sleep habits having at that point being thrown completely out of whack. We laid back down but eventually gave up both the hope and pretense of further sleep, got up and began our bonus day in Vienna.

No comments:

Post a Comment