El Museo de Arte Cubana

            On Thursday we went to the Museo de Arte Cubana, which for all you monolinguals out there means Museum of Cuban Art.  It was an incredible institution and was definitely on par with any of the art museums that I have been to in the United States.  It is definitely a gem of Havana that has been preserved through many, many trials.  Interestingly, right across the street is the Museum of the Revolution, which is an outdoor museum that has all of the different vehicles and weapons used during the Revolution.

            Once inside, we began on the top floor and worked our way down from the Colonial period, to the post-Colonial and finally to the post-Revolution period.  All of the colonial artwork was very similar to a lot of the colonial works from the United States with a lot of portraits of important people and a lot of landscapes. 

            One of the greatest works that I saw was called “La Siesta” by Guillermo Collazo.  This was an awesome work because it showed a lot of the dichotomy between an island nation like Cuba being conquered and colonized by a highly developed nation like Spain.  Look it up and see how the opulence and formal nature of the rug and the girl’s dress are contrasted with the simple nature of the adobe structure and the abundance of plants.  It is also really interesting that a painting that is supposed to be about resting actually has so much activity going on in it.  The agitated leaves blowing across the floor, the crashing waves, not so restful.  Definitely a metaphor for the fact that this Spanish woman has been uprooted from her life and placed in a country that is unlike anything she has ever known.

            Then we moved into the post-Colonial period and I loved this painting by Manuel Vega called “Caravana de Ciegos”.  Ciegos in Spanish means blind people and if you Google it, you will be struck with the same sense of irony as I was.  In this painting, the blind were leading the blind!  During the post-Colonial period, the general international attitude towards Cuba was exactly the theme of this work.  The general sentiment was that everyone, most predominately the United States, had to keep coming in and cleaning up the messes that it got itself in to. 

            There were lots of other great works to, but I’m quickly running out of time, so come and visit and I’ll take you guys to see all the other fabulous things in this wonderful country!