Today as G and I were running errands we passed the Museo de Bellas Artes and decided to go in and see ticket prices because one of my students had told me about a good exposition happening right now. I think my appreciation for museums grew to what it is today because of my daddy! I can remember going to museum after museum when I was young and especially on family vacations to Europe. I was bored. Like bored to the max. My brother and I used to linger behind my parents as they moved from piece to piece…just praying that it was the last (although the trip to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum was awesome). Eventually I grew out of this stage and learned to see the talent of artists and the history that the art was displaying instead of flying angels and half-dressed men and women.

Anyways, to our surprise the ticket lady looked at us with a big smile and said… “es gratis!” (it’s free!) I responded with “que guay!” (how cool!).

So there we were entering into this exquisite museum for free.  We were able to see a fantastic exposition by one of the most important Baroque painters in Spain (he was also from Sevilla), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. It was a double dose of culture points for us. Although I’m not a huge fan of Baroque art or religious art in general, I can, again, appreciate the skill and artistic talent that was shown throughout his work. The museum itself is fantastic and stunning. It was originally a convent in the 17th century and then later became a museum in 1839, so you can imagine the architectural detail it has now. It also has many courtyards filled with flowers, trees and benches… It was a wonderful time to spend a couple hours on a lazy spring day.

Adiós,
L