Art, Politics & Power 2017 Study Travel to Belgium & The Netherlands

Today we are supposed to reflect on our favorite part of the day.  For me this is an easy choice.  Our final stop today was a massive art museum.  It contained the Lamb of God among many other Dutch masterpieces.  After our lovely tour guide gave us a brief tour we were allowed to explore the museum on our own for an hour.

During my walk around the museum I found one piece in particular that really took me aback.  Sadly I cannot remember the name or artist exactly but I want to say the piece is called Spring.  The painting is in between realism and expressionism which gives it a dreamlike quality.  These are my favorite types of paintings because they look like a blissful and magical scene.  It was of people harvesting beautiful flowers of bright yellows and pinks.  Something about the painting made me have an instant connection with it.

Another great apart of the museum was its room that had water beds in it.  After a long and informational day it was nice to kick back on a bed and stare at the abstract art above.

On our free day in Ghent we were introduced to Christine, a Belgian native. She told us some facts about the city that we didn’t learn about in the museums. We learned about the divorce rate and how children are raised differently and the contracts couples can make for government benefits. We also learned about how there is government aid for families with children and where to find the best chocolate.

After we left the museum Christine showed us to Max, a famous waffle restaurant where we ate lunch. I had an awesome waffle wth fruit and liquor and that was wild.

I had the rest of the day to shop and sleep so I took advantage of the Zara clothing store which isn’t in North Carolina. Then I went back to the hotel and took a two hour nap. After I woke up, me Sydni, Julie, and Stella went out to the Christmas festival so get some street vendor food and rode the huge Ferris wheel.

Throughout the entire day of touring Gent I was trying to decipher what stood out the most to me. First our tour guide was so amazing she kinda reminded me of my grandmother which was awesome because I have been missing home. It was nice to have a little reminder of home miles away. While I was enjoying the scenery of the city I was happy that we weren’t all that far from the hotel. We learned that Gent’s architecture is slightly schizophrenic (words from our tour guide) and so I thought I wanted to write about that. This city used multiple styles and centuries to create one building but then we went to lunch. I always have the best time at lunch because we are all finally warm and at that point of the day my classmates and I are very hungry. Amazingly we tried cuisine that I had never experienced and it was so tasty. So obviously I thought that was the favorite part of my day. After lunch we went to two museums. The first one, attitudes were low. Everyone was tired and full from the lunch and scooted chairs around the museums lazily. After that experience a lot of us did not think that the second museum would be any good. Boy were we wrong.

The first thing we did in the museum was look at some paintings of baby Jesus. I always loved depictions of the bible thinking its amazing how peoples imaginations soared while reading the bible but this paintings made me mad. I found it interesting that the artist depicted everyone as white knowing that the bible takes place in Jerusalem, where everyone is browner skin. The artist also shows Jesus being worshiped in all of his paintings which isn’t an accurate representation of events at all. Everyone that has read the bible knows that Jesus wasn’t worshiped and no one even liked him until after his resurrection. So while I think imagination is important I think if you are depicting historical events you shouldn’t be able to make up you’re own facts.

After Seeing those paintings we went and saw the piece of the Ghent Altarpiece panels that were being restored. While looking at these piece up close I wondered why Van Ike depicted the people the way they did. Eve has a rounded bottom stomach but the rest of her body is slender. We learned that was a style of the time it was ideal for women to have smaller boobs and a rounded mid section. I think that human ideas of fashion are wierd and random. At this point of my post you are probably thinking why is Sydni complaining about her favorite place so much but the reason it was my favorite place is because my thoughts and views were challenged and I loved that. After that we explored some more rooms and then hung out in a very creative room full of art. Overall that was my favorite part of the day. I kinda didn’t wanna leave.

Hello again everyone! Today was a great day we visited a couple of cathedrals and museums that were really quite interesting. Our tour guide was amazing, she was the best by far and honestly she was one of my favorite things about the day as well. You could tell she was really knowledgeable because she knew about sooo many things, this building, that building, this church, that house, it was really quite aweing to know that somebody is so passionate about their job and city where they live to show others around in bellow freezing weather all while keeping a huge smile on her face.

Also, another one of my favorite parts of the day was looking at all the different types of styles of aritechture throughout our journey im Gent. The styles vary depending on the century they were build in, I think my favoite was the Gothic style. We saw this at the first church we visited. It has very tall arched doorways and ceilings along with numerous small or large decorate statues displayed and intergrated into the sides of the building itself. Gothic style To me is gaudy, dark, and belittling feeling because its so large and tall it makes you feel insignificant when standing underneath it.

Lastly, my most favorite part of the day the seeing the Ghent Alterpiece! We studied this painting in class as far as what was used to make the painting and its wearabouts during World War 2 so my peers and I all knew a little bit about the painting before we saw it.  I am still amazing at how much detail is put into this hugeeee masterpiece!!! I mean it was breathtaking to see up close. I think my favorite panel is the one with the lamb on it, the center one on the bottom but the center top one is a close second because i really liked the gold detailing put into the clothes and fabric of the figures.

Keep on smiling,

Juliana Eike

 

What’s was my favorite part of the day??  Mmmm well it’s hard to decide. We spend a lot of time doing the same thing back to back to back so all the museums become just one big blur to be honest. So, so I have a “favorite” part yes; is it a specific painting or  Cathedral we saw, not really.

My favorite things so far was a weird, surreal kind of out door jungle thing st the MSK. This piece of art or exhibit type thing made you kinda feel liked it was a weird Alice in wonderland scene plucked right from the story. It had a huge flat beanbag type thing that spelled if lavender that u could sit on as well as a water bed. You could just lay there and look up into the hanging streamer type things and the blue branches of what might have been a tree. I can definitely say it was a interpretation of the artists but it was quite cool and relaxing too.

Today in Gent, we were able to be assisted by a lovely tour guide, Ann Marie. She was easily the kindest person I have ever met. I am so glad that we were able to be accompanied by her and were enlightened by her extensive love and knowledge of Gent. Meeting and having the chance to have her vibrant personality was one of my favorite parts of our time today. Along with this, I loved being able to walk in the streets of Gent and see the everyday life of its inhabitants.

One of the best parts of the day was being able to sit down after a long walk and have a lovely lunch with everyone. I am not sure the name of the restaurant, but it was truly amazing. We were able to have three courses! The asparagus soup was especially good, along with the amazing bread. 

After lunch we went to the STAM museum where we learned about Gent’s rich history and were able to see an amazing room that had been restored and placed in the museum. This was very interesting.

The last activity that we did today was easily my top favorite part of the day. It was getting cooler in the day and we were truly exhausted. This is when we went to the Fine Arts Museum of Gent. You first walk into a modernly finished lobby with rich marble and a gift shop; yet what was through the main doors was what really struck me as phenomenal. From seeing the actual bottom half of the Gent Altarpiece to seeing overwhelming sculptures, there was a surprise around every corner. I distinctly remember walking through a door and being brought to tears at a sculpture that was so beautiful that I stopped and stared in awe of it. I would describe it in detail here, but luckily I have a picture so you all are able to experience it as well. I am so glad that I was able to experience this day filled with beautiful scenes, museums, lunch and laughs with friends, and ending the day with breathtaking works of art.

Today was another fantastic day in the beautiful city of Ghent! I am writing about the amazing Fine Arts Museum here in Ghent. Earlier in the day we got to visit the gothic St. Bavo’s Cathedral where the Ghent Altarpiece is held. The Ghent Altarpiece or The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb was painted by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck in the 15th century and holds much symbolism and importance in many cultures. We talked in depth about this work because it was stolen by the Nazis during World War Two and recovered by The Monuments Men following the war. We had the privilege of seeing this piece up close in the cathedral. However, some of the panels are being restored in the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent where we went later that day. First in the museum we saw the panels that are being restored. To see these incredible pieces of art was incredible and surreal.

After we saw the panels we had free time to roam around the museum. My favorite part was the naturalism and impressionism room. The moment I walked in I was captured by all the bright colors and expressive brush strokes. I was especially drawn to the painting called The Gardener by Jenny Montigny (pictured below). Though this was my favorite room in the museum, all of the works I saw were incredible. We had some fun posing like some of the paintings and sculptures as well (also pictured below). Tomorrow is our free day in Ghent and I can’t wait to explore more of this awesome city!

 

Today we explored Gent, the city we have been staying in for the past few days. We went to multiple museums, visited a few churches, and ate lunch at a fancy lil’ restaurant. At that restaurant I drank some coffee out of a really cute mug, and the sugar they gave were in cubes, which I have never seen before. We were going to go to a restaurant for dinner for some classic Belgian waffles, but the place ended up closing for the night at 5:30pm, so plans had to be adjusted.

My favorite part of the day was the last art museum we went to. It contained pieces of the Ghent Altarpiece that were in the process of restoration. There were so many rooms in the museum that each time I thought I was turning to go back to the lobby, I ended up in a completely new place with all new pieces of art. But if I had to be lost anywhere, I am glad it was there. A few of my favorite artworks are pictured below.

 

 

Today, we toured several museums in Ghent. One of them was very interesting, because it had different sections from different centuries, each with a different architecture style. This museum was created to show the history of Ghent, and walking through the museum you can see the city change across the centuries.

Near the end of the tour was my favorite thing from the day, a Lego model of Ghent! There were only a few buildings shown off, but it was interesting nonetheless. A few kids were playing with the Legos, creating their own buildings on the outskirts of the city.
Pictured is the Belfry tower, the largest such tower in Belgium. It was built in 1310, with several other renovations in between. These kinds of buildings were not used as churches, but we’re for government offices.