I had an absolutely wonderful time. I think perhaps because I was by myself and so the stress of having five or six other personalities with different interest and needs wasn't present. I got to be relatively spontaneous, as spontaneous as I get which just means walking into a random store or plaza on my way from point a to point b. Nonetheless, I was a restful sort of day, and I got to do some really neat stuff, all while heading toward my main goal: the Musee des Beaux Arts.
I started my morning, with a different type of art:
It's the Belgium museum for Comic Strip art! I don't believe I've spent much time thinking about Comic Strips being art work, but they most certainly are, and there is so much more into it that what we see in the funnies every Sunday morning. Here's the highlights: One of the most famous Belgian comic characters is a detective by the name of Tintin. Tintin was created around the 1930s by an artist known as Jijé.Together, the two of them basically revolutionized the comic strip world and made it possible for other artists to come forward into the art form.
Among these artists was
a Belgian man named Pierre Gulliford aka "Peyo." Peyo's debut into the comic words was with a series called Johan et Pirout. In 1958, Peyo's most famous characters debuted within this comic strip gaining such popularity that they earned their own strip, tv show, toys, etc. The Smurfs!
Have you guys ever heard of the Manneken Pis? Well, then you haven't taken French at Baylor University. I've been hearing about this fountain for the last four semesters, and by george if you didn't think I was going to go check this thing out. When I got there I found what is quite possibly the most pointless tourist attraction known to humanity.
Ok, so I knew that the fountain was of a little boy peeing into the fountain (why I do not know) but I didn't expect him to be so small. For some reason I was envisioning a fountain with a life size state in the middle of some square, not tucked into the corner of a little alley way. It didn't seem to matter where he was though because people came in waves to this little alley, 20, 30 at a time to stand and take pictures of this little guy. I stood back and watched while I savored my first tasty treat of the day.
That my friends is a piping hot Belgian waffle with crème and kiwi. You could get these thing with anything, syrup, sugar, fruit, chocolate, or plain and believe me plain would have been just as tasty as anything else. I'm still mystified as to have a waffle can taste so amazing!
I had tooled around Brussels enough already, it was time to complete the pilgrimage. You see the purpose for this trip was to see a painting, not just any painting but my favorite painting ever (circa 7th grade). Last week we were talking about it in history class and I happened to Wikipedia it when I got home and found out it was just two hours away! I couldn't not go see it!
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David
"Ew, it's a picture of some dead guy in a bathtub." How astute you sound, but this just isn't any dead guy in a bathtub, this guy is Jean-Paul Marat. As with most things that I love beyond measure, there is a story. In 1793, France was in turmoil. It was still suffering the throws of Revolution that began in 1789. Now, 4 years later, there was a power struggle going on in the midst of the National Assembly. This struggle was between the Conservatives, the people who wanted to conserve the monarchy and governmental institute, (this is actually the origin of the word Conservative within the context of politics today) and the Jacobins, the leftist group that wanted to overthrow it all and start new with a system where everyone was equal. The leaders of this group were Maximilian Robspierre, Saint-Just, and Jean-Paul Marat. (Eventually the Jacobs won this struggle and it was the period under their power known as The Terror that most think of when the French Revolution is mentioned. That was the time when all of the "traitors" to France and her cause were taken to the guillotine and, in the words of Dr. Rust, made a head shorter). Marat had a very important role within the Jacobin cause, and that was as editor of "The Friend of the People," a leftist newspaper that he used to spur the political cause. Marat also had a skin condition that required him to spend nearly 10 hours in bath every day, and it was from here that he would do the most work for his paper.
On July 13, 1793 a young woman from Normandy by the name of Charlotte Corday appeared at Marat's flat wishing to see him. She was invited in to speak to him while he was in bath, and they had nearly a 15 minute conversation before Corday withdrew from her corset an 8 inch knife and plunged it into Marat's chest. There was no chance of Survival. Later at her trail, Corday simply said that she'd "killed one man to same 100,000."
Marat's death, however had the opposite affect than what Corday intended. Instantly he became a martyr, and this was spurred on by David's dramatic representation of Marat's last breath in his famous painting. David, who was a close friend of Marat's and a Jacobin himself, designed his painting to be the representation of a hero's demise and virtually launched France further into the Great Terror as people became more convinced that traitors, like Corday were trying to undermind the country.( If you want more details about it, please feel free to ask, did I mention I love this painting?!)
Let me just say that for a good ten minutes I got to stand nose to nose with this painting and look at every last detail. It was so cool. Oh, and I hope you like the painting Amanda because I sort of got a print of it to add to the collection!
After my trip to the museum my day was pretty much over, but I couldn't leave without having one last thing!
Belgian frites, in a cone with Andalouse sauce (a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and pepper). The Belgians invented the fries, so I don't suppose I need to tell you how amazing they were!
Alright, that's all for now! Have a safe and happy fourth!
