Menos 15 grados bajo cero...

La canción "Cuando Calienta el Sol, aquí en la playa..." suena muy lejana.

Normalmente no me quejo del frío. Y no es que me queje hoy. Pero sí se siente el bajonazo de temperatura. 

Y me llaman la atención los niños: No se quejan del frío. Y claro es que para ellos es parte de su ciclo natural de vida. El invierno es normal. Desde que son bebitos han vivido el frío como viven la leche o las canciones que les canta la abuela.

Le tomé una foto al bebé de una amiga de Bjørn. Y sí con ropa caliente, el bebito ni chistaba.

Y como dicen los noruegos: No es que hace frío,  es que no se lleva la ropa correcta!

The coolest metallic courtain

This must be the coolest Opera House curtain there is.

It looks metallic but it is not. It is painted!  Just brilliant.

The show must go on...

Photo from the Opera House website

We went to see The Fledermouse (The Bat) at the Opera House and I loved the twists of the plot!  (Husband, wife and maid lie to each other and leave the house without telling anyone only to find themselves caught at the same party and entangled in a web of deception).

It was in Norwegian and - so thanks to the translation I could understand the story (It is dreadful when you don't understand and you see the entire audience laughing...and you half pretend you laugh with them...).

The photo below is a reminder of the carnival of imaginative, mind-boggling costumes. The clothes stole the show. Or perhaps my viewing of the show. Once I catch something visual - vivid colors, beautiful shapes, or lights -  my ears stop functioning.

Then the surprise.

Right in the middle of the play all lights of the Opera house went on. I thought that was part of the show, how fun!  But is was not part of the show:  the fire alarm had been activated and we had to fetch the coats, cover ourselves and go out.

After twenty minutes, we were asked to go back to our seats. Coats off again and up we went.  The Opera continued as if nothing had happend.  Nada. A graceful,  reminder that it should not be the end of the world if things don't go according to plan.

 

The show must always go on.

This is the view outside the Opera while we waited for the non-existing fire to be extinguished

Oslo ready to shine...

Today thhe New York Times run a piece about 46 places to Visit in 2013.

And guess?

Oslo is one of those places.

The spotlight is always on Copenhagen or Stockholm.

Well...watch out!

"With all the attention recently showered on its fellow Nordic capitals, it’s been easy to overlook Oslo. But no longer. In an effort to embrace the city’s proximity to the sea, the Fjord City development project is rejuvenating the city’s waterfront, most recently (and impressively) on Tjuvholmen, or Thief Island. This is where the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art reopened in September in a spectacular new Renzo Piano-designed structure featuring sloping, sail-shaped glass roofs that nearly dip into the water. 

And I say: Remember my previous entries about this Museum?! Here and here.

Next door, the cutting-edge facade and art-strewn interiors of The Thief new Design Hotel set to open this month, should fit right in with the arty neighborhood. Tjuvholmen is now also home to a pack of top-notch galleries and a new sculpture park with works from Anish Kapoor and Ellsworth Kelly. Elsewhere in the city, the restaurant Maaemo caught the food world’s attention when, barely a year after opening, it earned two Michelin stars. More proof that Oslo is ready to shine."

From the New York Times's article mentioned above

I don't care much about about designer, super-fancy recommendations - they feel like a "cookie-cutter" import from other latitudes - but I am passionate about Art and cool urban ecosystems and I do sense Oslo´s wanting to becoming more cosmopolitan.  The city is not there yet. But this decade should be one in which Oslo´s rapid internationalization will make it shine.

Encounters with the sky

The most spectacular winter gift Norway gives to those who pay attention are the lights around 5pm. 

And it was around this time that we left the Henie-Onstad Art Center. There it was near the parking lot: the happy  encounter with the magnificent lights.  The moon stood right in the middle. Each time I discover these sunsets, I am surprised. I am not used to the colors.  And I don´t want to get used to them either.  I want them to surprise me each time.

The photos I made with my phone pay no justice to the handsome scenery (the pink was in the sky but not in the photo). And yet. Part of the happy moment was recorded. 

It was about -11C.  My nose felt so frozen I thought it would break anytime and fall to the ground.

Ibsen's women

Reading the book Ibsen's Women by Joan Templeton is a joy - a surprise Christmas gift by Bjørg (Bjørn´s mother).  Templeton offers a fascinating story of how - in her view - Henrik Ibsen personal dilemmas offer a clue to the creation of the women in his plays.  That his fictional female characters were so rejected during his early years in Oslo only reminds me - just as in the case of Edvard Munch - how fiercely conservative Norway was in the late 1880s (like the rest of the world) and how much Norwegian society has transformed itself (for the better). Especially on the subject of empowering women so they have a life of their own choosing.

No female choice back then. When Ibsen wrote his plays the only legitimate role for Norwegian women was to be married ladies.  And women had no power to decide whom to marry. (In the case of Ibsen's mother, her parents married her to Mr. Disaster!).  So women who wanted something else were in trouble: Want to be a female artist? Forget it! Dream of being an actress? Scandalous!  Wanting to be a vocal female writer?  How dare she!  

 No wonder the man took his plays to other countries and lived away from Norway for 27 years... And he chose a progressive wife, Suzannah, who understood his quest and stood by him.

I very much enjoyed learning stories of individuals who persevere in adversity and finally make it in their lifetimes.  Sadly for my own country, two of our best writers died outside Costa Rica  (Yolanda O. and Eunice O.) and it was only after they were dead (and no longer a threat) that the country embraced their writing and celebrated their talent.

The Oslo establishment changed its mind about Ibsen in time for him to live his final 11 years in Norway (1895-1906).  He was lucky to have felt his country's appreciation before he died.

His studio upstairs. He wrote his last two plays here.

The exhibition downstairs.

Given my Ibsen readings, I had to visit the Ibsen museum. 

What a treat (and in great company: my mother!).  We visited both his flat and the exhibition (with countless stories and personal belongings). The history of how they found them is here.

Some of his watches.

It was not the usual Norwegian understatement situation: Instead the Museum openly celebrates their Man. I love they chose red. Lots of red everywhere!

When Vikings Ruled the World

One day I will take time to learn more about the Vikings.

I don´t about you, but in my case my high school did not teach me much about them... and if you are from my generation, then "Olafo, el Viking" left an enduring visual legacy, including the idea that Viking wives, such as Helga, always got their way. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hägar_the_Horrible (in English, Olafo was "Hagar the Horrible"...)

Stereotypes aside, the Vikings are a fascinating people. And where else could I learn more about them than in Scandinavia?

Yesterday, we took my mother to the Oslo´s Viking Ship Museum. http://www.khm.uio.no/besok-oss/vikingskipshuset/

The ship you see in the photo is nearly 1,200 years old.

Built around the year 820, it was used as burial ship for a powerful woman and her maid in 834. The dead would be put in the ship with burial gifts for use in the life hereafter...

The museum has other ships from the years 890 and 900 as well as precious artefacts, small and large, which give you a vivid image of their their way of life. I saw their jewerlry, shoes, buckets, knives, hair combs, their wagons, and some kitchen utensils.

In the photo you see the pot in which they boiled water.

They were active between the 9th and the 11th century as Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands.

Almost of all the popular sterotypes of Vikings - as barbarians - are misplaced, including the way they looked. I learned they did not even wear the horned helmets... As I said, I will take time - sooner or later - to learn the real story!

Momentos de luz

This was the view outside Oslo...even my camera smiled when it saw it!

Munch Museum

I spent the day at the Munch Museum with my mother.  It is always a sublime moment to have The Scream only a few centimeters away from one´s eyes.

Inevitably we left the museum with a mixed feeling of fascination on the one hand and sadness on the other. All the details we learned about his personal and professional life are so fiercely bitter.  I had read his bio and yet today I was struck more than ever by the depth of his sorrow.  (My previous Munch story is here)

Acceptance from Norway came "too late" as he said it himself.  (But at least he did enjoy recognition at home in the two decades before he died).

It is interesting to note that from all the happy paintings of Norwegian landscapes and everyday life one finds in the Norway´s National Gallery, it was the tormented, emotional, expressive Norwegian artist that became this country´s most famous painter.  His inner turmoil seems to have produced the kind of visual history that resonates with past, present and future generations, inside and outside Norway.

I found it interesting to think about how ultra-conservative, judgemental Norwegian society was when Munch was alive (1863-1944).  He was the victim of his own people. If only he knew how much Norway would improve for the better in the years after his departure!

The museum is here munch.museum.no

Vampire, 1893-94

Check out the Google Art Project with Munch´s paintings

googleartproject.com/artist/edvard-munch

The magic of a silver, sunless day

Today Oslo felt as if the Sun had decided to not show up for work...

And yet the city looked strong, spotless. White everywhere. The streets, the park, the port, everything. I felt sweet as if I were inside a maze, or a cake, showered in powder sugar. My favorite object? The tall trees who stand so perfectly naked, bearing the winter in silence and adding grace to the scenery - at least if one pays close attention - because of how they let the snow stay in their black branches.

I never saw the city so foggy. The weather must be tough on those who curse the winter. But I have never been in that category (And wouldn´t it be silly to be living in Norway and decide to dislike winters?).

It was a perfect day for making photographs outdoors and for a museum visit. So I went with my mother to the new Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. Here are some photographs from the inside. There were so scandalous and at times disturbing pieces of art. I need to understand that visual language better. But that is another topic...

For an unforgettable and peaceful 2013...

Going to Vigeland's Park in Oslo is always a visual delight. And yesterday being the first day of 2013, my eyes were -yes, again - fascinated by the beauty, energy and calm of Vigeland's sculptures. They have an extraordinary effect on me.

A perfect location for walking and thinking right as the year gets reset to "Day One". I hope this will be a year of happy happenings but also collective responsibility. We all know what we have to do to make sure life gets better not only for us, in our own private universe, but in a way that does not even relate to our own life.

Here are some images. It was about 4pm!