Monday June 3 turned into a very sunny warm day with a high of 21C. Our destination was the Civico Museo Revoltella, Gallery of Modern Art. There was a Van Gogh exhibit we wanted to see, as well as to check out Baron Revoltella's private apartments, which are part of the Museum.
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| Outside the Museum |
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| View of the Museum |
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| Posters for the exhibit |
The founder of the Museum was Pasquale Revoltella (Venice 1795-Trieste 1869), one of the most important figures in the economic and political world of imperial Trieste. He arrived in Trieste in 1797 as a child with his family. In 1835, he opened his own import company, specialising in timber and grain. He also embrarked on a career as a financier and was one of the first shareholders in Assicurazioni Gernerali, the insurance company founded in 1831. A few years later, he joined the board of Lloyd Austriaco, the shipping company.
Revoltella invested a great deal in education and philanthropic initiatives. His most significant contribution was the diplomatic and financial support he gave to the development of the Suez Canal, an operation he considered important for the revival of Trieste's economy, which was based on maritime trade. He was nominated vice-president of the Suez Canal Company and invited Ferdinand de Lesseps to Trieste on the occasion of the inauguration of his new town house, the Palazzo Revoltella, in the presence of Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg.
In 1861, Revoltella travelled to Egypt to visit the site where the Canal was being dug. In 1867, the Austrian government conferred the title of baron on Revoltella. He died on September 8, 1869 two months before the inauguration of the Suez Canal. Revoltella bequeathed his palace and art collection to the city of Trieste as well as a generous amount of money which allowed for the accumulation of a considerable art collection.
The historic home of Revoltella is an elegant Neo-Renaissance building of three floors overlooking what is today Piazza Venezia but used to be called Piazza Giuseppina in memory of Emperor Josef II, under whose reign (1780-1790), this part of Trieste was built. Designed by the Berlin architect Friedrich Hitzig, the residence was constructed between 1853-1859. A number of the rooms are still wholly intact today, including the private library on the ground floor in Neo- Baroque style, which still contains Revoltella's original collection of books.
Following the foundation of the Museo Revoltella in 1872, his art collection was entrusted to a specially formed commission, comprising of Revoltella's closest friends and collaborators. The Museum's holdings increased and in 1907, the neighbouring Palazzo Brunner was acquired as was another neighbouring building. Since 1991, the museum has occupied three palazzi.
The entrance to the museum was once the entrance gateway to the courtyard to Revotella Palace.
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Looking down at the entrance from one floor up.
The quote is from Plato's Phaedra, installed in 1990 by Gerard Mertz. |
There is a winding staircase linking the three floors with two marble groups by the Milanese sculptor Pietro Magni (1817-1877), The Fountain of the Aurisina Nymph, 1858 and The Cutting of the Suez Isthmus, 1863)
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| The Fountain of the Aurasina Nymph |
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| The Cutting of the Suez Isthmus |
We proceeded up the stairway to the Van Gogh exhibit, passing a room of sculptures.
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| Marcello Mascherini (1906-1983), Risveglio di primavera, 1954 |
The beginning of the Van Gogh (1853-1890) exhibit had an excellent video, outlining his life story with an emphasis on the ups and downs of his mental health and the fact that his life was marked by a condition of deep-seated disquiet and loneliness that came to characterise his paintings.
The exhibit featured over 50 masterpieces from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands. Helene Kröller-Müller (b. Essen 1869- d. Otterlo, Netherlands, 1939), was an early collector of Van Gogh's works. In 1935, she decided to donate her collection to the Dutch people in exchange for the construction of a museum. On July 13, 1938, the Museum opened to the public. Helene unfortunately was not able to enjoy it for long as she died in 1939. The Museum is located within the extensive grounds of her and her husband's former estate (now a national park). A sculpture garden was added in 1961 and new exhibition wing opened in 1977.
The exhibit tracked Van Gogh's entire artistic journey. The exhibit opens with the figure of the sower, a symbol that he never stopped exploring in his works. His first five years of painting are documented by the dark landscapes of his youth and numerous figures working the land. His Paris sojourn involved a more impassioned exploration of colour. Later with his move to the south of France, his works became more vibrant. His voluntary stay in the Saint-Paul-de- Mausole psychiatric hospital in the spring of 1888 marked an artistically fertile period. His mental health issues were a constant cloud and even with the many works he produced in his final days, he committed suicide in July 1890.
There was a video about Helene Kröller-Müller and her collection.
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| Helene Kröller-Müller, one of the 20th century's most important collectors, spent a lifetime pursuing a dream of building a modern art museum. She purchased her first Van Gogh painting in 1908, and amassed one of the world's most important collections of Van Gogh's works, second only to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. |
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| The Sower, 1888-- a recurring theme |
Van Gogh was passionate about portraying everyday working people in his artwork.
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| The Bearers of the Burden, Brussels, April 1881 (one of his first drawings) |
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| Women carrying sacks of coal in the snow, The Hague, November 1882 |
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| View of a Wood, Etten, June-July 1881 |
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| Women sewing and cat, Etten, October-November, 1881 |
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| Girl with a Shawl, The Hague, December 1882-January 1883) |
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| Woman Feeding Chickens, The Hague, April-May 1883 |
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| The Potato Eaters, Nuenen, April 1885- Van Gogh took particular pride in this work- a scene of a peasant family sharing a simple meal of potatoes, grown with their own hands. |
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| Peasant woman cleaning a pot, Nuenen, August-September, 1885 |
There was a small room with an immersive video experience.
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| The people from his pictures |
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| The sunflowers |
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| Being immersed |
In late 1886, Van Gogh joined Theo, his brother, in Paris.
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| The Hill of Montmartre, Paris, April-May, 1886 |
After his stay in Paris (1886-1888), he moved to Arles (1888-89). One of the highlights of the show were the Portraits of Monsieur and Madame Ginoux. They were the owners of Van Gogh's favourite café, the Café de la Gare in Arles. He also rented a house (the Yellow House) from them and they became good friends. He painted Madame Ginoux seven times, twice in November 1888 in Arles and five times in February 1890.
The portrait of Monsieur Ginoux is from the Kröller-Müller Museum and the portrait of Madame Ginoux is from National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
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| The Arlesiana (from Gauguin), Saint-Rémy, February 1890. Madame Ginoux supported him after his first bouts of depression (she was also subject to depression herself). |
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Portrait of a man (Portrait of Joseph-Michel Ginoux), Arles, December 1888.
Much stronger colours in this portrait. |
In 1888, Paul Gauguin agreed to visit Arles in 1888. Van Gogh hoped for friendship and to realise his idea of an artists' collective. They did paint together but over time their relationship began to deteriorate. They often quarrelled and it was after an altercation on December 23, 1888, that Van Gogh severed his left ear with a razor. He recovered but then left Arles and voluntarily entered an asylum in Saint-Rémy- de Provence.
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| Still life with a plate of onions, early January 1889-- painted after he was released from the hospital where he was treated after severing his ear. Each object in the picture has a symbolic and autobiographical value. The green bottle contains absinthe, and the coffee pot holds coffee: the only vices the painter allowed himself along with the tobacco and pipe. The letter evokes the value of loved ones and his close bonds with Theo and his sister. The book is a manual of natural medicine that contains the remedy for his insomnia. |
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| The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Rémy, May 1889 |
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| Landscape with Wheat Sheaves and Rising Moon, Saint-Rémy, July 1889 |
The last piece in the exhibit was very evocative of Van Gogh's state of mind. He had arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise in May of 1890, hoping to find peace in that small country village. He quit drinking and set up a regular routine for painting. During the three months he spent in Auvers, he worked at an exceptional pace, producing 80 paintings in just 70 days. However, on July 27, 1890 he took a borrowed revolver he sometimes used to drive the birds away, went to a place he often painted and shot himself. He survived for two days, his brother Theo summoned by the doctors at his side.
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| Sorrowing Old Man ("At Eternity's Gate"), May 1890 |
The exhibit exceeded our expectations. Most of the works we had not seen before and the drawings were excellent. The analysis of his life's ups and downs was very well done and one can see how his paintings reflected his mental state. The detailed write-ups with each painting provided excellent context to when the works were painted and Van Gogh's state of mind. A very complex, but brilliant painter. It was also wonderful to see the two paintings of the Ginoux couple that befriended Van Gogh united and hanging side by side in the Museum.
We walked through Revoltella's private rooms. How the 1% lived in the 19th century.
As we walked by the Piazza della Borsa, we took a picture of a building we usually passed on the way to the Piazza Unità.
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| Free Territory of Trieste- USA-UK Come Back--- we were told a publishing house occupies the floor with the flags and signage. |
We then paid a return visit to La Bomboniera, where we had a coffee with chocolate outside this time, as the weather was great. We talked to a young man in the store who was visiting his family in Trieste and who had fond memories of being taken to the café as a young child. He was buying chocolate and pastries for the family.
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| Such a wonderful historic café. |
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| Alonso pouring the chocolate into his capo (macchiato) |
We headed back to the apartment to pack before heading out to dinner. We had asked our host for information about the building. He sent us some information (only in Italian). "Palazzo Degasperi" was designated as an important cultural, historic building in 2021. The architect was Giovanni Degasperi and the building dates to 1838. Degasperi was an important architect in Trieste.
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| Our apartment building |
We also discovered that the Conservatory building just three building away from our apartment, was the site of a brutal act of reprisal by Nazi forces in 1944. The Palazzo Rittmeyer, now home to the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory, was the site of the Massacre of Via Ghega, as it came to be known. The Palazzo, then requestioned by German occupational forces as a "German Soldiers Club" was bombed by Partisans. The Germans immediately retaliated by transferring 51 Italian, Slovenian and Croatian civilians being held prisoner for other infractions to Palazzo Rittmeyer where they were hung in groups of five and their bodies left hanging inside and on the windows of the facade. A plaque was placed on the building in 1947. There had been a commemorative ceremony held on April 24, 2024 and the wreaths were still in place.
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| The site of the Massacre- wreaths hanging on the left side of the photo |
We headed out to dinner at around 8:30 p.m.
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| Sunset over the Grand Canal |
We had dinner at Buffet da Pepi which has been in operation since 1897. It had been recommended by a few people as a Trieste food experience.
We had a mixed platter, which is an assortment of their specialties (all slow-boiled meats).
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| Excellent selection-served with mustard and horseradish. We had a side plate of sauerkraut and potatoes and a draft beer. Yum! |
On the way back to the apartment, we passed a private party at one of the restaurants on the Canal.
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| Private party on the Canal |
Monday June 3 was our last full day in Trieste. We head to the airport on Tuesday for our flight back to Toronto, with a short layover in Rome. It has been a wonderful adventure. Good weather, great food, interesting history and a great itinerary. We really recommend a visit to Croatia and Slovenia and of course we can recommend visiting Trieste on the crossroads of many cultures. Jan Morris captures the city beautifully in her 2001 book, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. It is a homage to the city, which Morris visited many times during her life. Ljubljana was a favourite, both for its beauty, culture and liveability. "Slovenia Green" really is an apt motto for the country.
POSTSCRIPT: I am finishing and posting this last blog of our trip from Toronto. We took the train to the Trieste airport on Tuesday June 4 and then had a quick one hour flight from Trieste to Rome followed by a short layover in Rome's very busy, buzzy airport.
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| A vineyard right beside the train stop at the Trieste airport! |
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| Very cool entrance to the Airport |
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