Barcelona, Day 3 - Gaudi Houses, Museu Egipci de Barcelona, Museu del Modernisme de Barcelona - May 6, 2023
Read MoreMuseu Egipci de Barcelona
Erotic figurines. Faience and stone. Ptolemaic Period (304-30 BC).
In the Ptolemaic Period, erotic representations in Egypt underwent significant changes, There is a plethora of figures showing men with hypertrophic genitalia, either alone or engaged in sexual activity. The characters portrayed might be identified as Harpocrates, the dwarf god Ptaichos, or Sem priests, who performed functions related to fertility.Museu Egipci de Barcelona
Mummy with a Fayum portrait. Bandages, gesso and wood. Roman Period (150-200 AD).
The so-called "Lady of Kemet" is a late example of one of the most unique activities practiced by the Egyptians. On her bandages, divine portrayals allude to the death-resurrection-continuity of the life cycle, the ultimate goal sought for her. In 1998, doctors Félix Escalas and Javier Lucaya conducted a morphological and anatomical study of the mummy by applying Helicoidal Computerized Axial Tomography. The results have enabled us to confirm her sex, age (15 years old) and height (1.65m). No major injuries were found, although an occipital perforation was found which was used to extract the contents of the cranium.Museu Egipci de Barcelona
Mummy from the Roman Period (1 st-2nd century AD) covered with a beadwork net and the portrayal of a divine face. Faience. Late Period (715-332 BC).
The blue hue of the net confers properties related to resurrection, and the fringe on the lower part, comparable to sunbeams, propitiate the deceased person's transformation into a celestial being.Museu del Modernisme de Barcelona
Antoni Gaudí
Bench in the boardroom of Casa Calvet
Around 1902
Oak
This piece, which was originally part of the furniture and decoration of Casa Calvet, transmits the elegance of Gaudi's sinuous lines and the sumptuous touch that this family represents. The movement of the gilded carvings seems to screw in some sections in an organic frame that either avoids straight lines and contains a soft, watery mirror surface, finished with a floral motif.Museu del Modernisme de Barcelona
Antoni Gaudí
Casa Batlló Bench
1906
Oak
This original two-seater bench, which was part of the living room of Casa Batlló, belongs to the designs that Gaudí made based on the functionality of the piece and the comfort of the user, thanks to the irregular and organic shapes what they adapt to the human body. Likewise, he conceives the structure in two separate squares, although sharing the central leg, which symbolically alludes to the isolation that can occur between two people in the same proximity.Museu del Modernisme de Barcelona
Joan Busquets
Dining room table
Circa 1901
Oak
Blessed with a great ability to combine styles, techniques and designs, Busquets, during those years of huge demand from the bourgeois clientele, demonstrates with this piece the modernist purity in the curved lines and an extremely simple structure. He did not forget the decorative and symbolic touches in the figures of the table legs, facing each other as if they were reflections, revealing a concession to movement and curves within a piece that transmits strength and solidity.