Düsseldorf – 28 January 2015

I went to the Museum Kunstpalast today; here are pictures along the walk. The manhole cover showing children doing cartwheels is a reference to this.

Old church in background; modern sculpture in foreground Manhole cover showing boys doing cartwheels. Statue of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy hofpark hofpark tonhalle tonhalle side painting side tonhalle statue in front of museum kunstpalast Near entrance of Museum Kunstpalast, very large irregulary shaped colored art piece leaning on building. Sculpture of resting rhinoceros Sculpture of standing woman Statue of woman carrying water jar on head

The museum has a truly phenomenal colletion of artistic glass works.

Geometric stained glass in main entrance to Kunstpalast. Entrance to art glass exhibit glass cabinets Blue and green horned vase Abstract elephant-like glass piece Goat with fur made of long glass crystals Multicolored glass shaped like large semi-rectangular stone Blue head on left; greeen “juice box” with orange straw on right Three angled spirals of glass 3-legged object with green stalks and red mushroom-like tops Glass with orange, blue, and green stripes. Blue glass dish with many small clear glass protrusions

One part of the exhibit was devoted to archaeologically complete glass; glass that was restored from broken parts.

Archaeologically complete glass; glass items restored from broken glass.

The other side of the museum contains both ancient and modern works. The first two pictures are an installation by Nam June Paik.

Mutiple TVs on ceiling with rapidly shifting images. Long view showing TVs mounted on ceiling head with man on head Madonna (wearing crown) holding child Room with wall lined with mirrors Large circular mirrors hanging from ceiling. various Japanese netsuke

This one is called Impossible Union; the typewriter has Hebrew keys and the large metal part is Arabic calligraphy.

Typewriter with Hebrew Letters “producing” metal Arabic calligraphy

Part of the museum had an exhibit by Katharina Gross. One installation was colored dirt piled up in a large room. The other part was some of her paintings, which I liked a lot better.

Colored dirt and painted curtains hung from ceiling Colored dirt and curtains Closeup of painted rock large multicolored abstracts

Onwards to more art in the museum:

Painting of two ladies in 1500s garb, seated Prince and other nobleman carved statue man Carved bust of man, side view

This is a portrait of some actor who bears a striking resemblance to Christian Slater, but isn’t.

Portrait of an actor who strongly resembles Christian Slater

And these two are exceptionally wonderful for their realism and use of light and shadow.

Highly realistic self-portrait of a painter Academy at Düsseldorf (outdoor landscape of buildlings and peole in a square)

This is a detail from Family tree of Christ, which dates back to 1530.

Closeup of wood carving showing man in knightly garb Large wood carving; triptypch side panel

After I left the museum, I head down along the banks of the Rhine toward the Media Harbor. I saw a few more of the statues atop kiosks:

kiosk statue statue atop kiosk statue on kiosk

Here are some of the other sights along the way:

rheinturm from distance front of church barge on rhine weathervane abstract sculpture

I passed by Kunst im Tunnel (art in the tunnel), a small exhibition gallery built in a space between two underground traffic tunnels. The installation there was by a group of students under the leadership of Katharina Gross.

kunst im tunnel kunst im tunnel kunst im tunnel colored beads

Near the tunnel gallery was this sign that counts the number of bicyclists that ride by. It must have some sort of radar near it. I checked as one bicyclist rode past, and, sure enough, the number was updated a few seconds later.

bicyclists meter

Here are two of the buildings designed by Frank Gehry; they are near the Mediahafen district.

gehry building gehry building

I made my way back to the hotel, and saw this building as I was on the tram. I immediately got off at the next stop and walked back to get a picture.

cats painting on building

Signage

signage hey hey wikie This one is weird; it says “Hey Hey Viking”; apparently it’s a demolition and construction company.


signage manuefactum A nice juxtaposition of the script “by hand” and industrial type for “made.”


Sign for a sale in windows; windows are covered in paper with holes “torn out” to see merchandise. I like the way the store papered over the windows and tore out a section to reveal the sale.


Word “Wunsch” (Wish) with a smart car in place of the S; advert for a loan company. This appears to be an ad for a loan company; the word wunsch means wish, and the car substitutes for the letter S.