1 May 2014

Kunst als Dinge

The day begins with the delights of the Zwinger, namely the beautiful Nymphaeum with its many fountains.  It’s also raining today, so the theme of water is appropriate – Arthur runs back to the hotel (a short distance) to get umbrellas. 

We enjoy the fountains, both earthly and heavenly; have some tea and then move on to the Museum at the Rezidenceschloß. 

There is a lot there to do. The collections include the Grünes Gewölbe, (the “Green Vault), the Neues Grünes Gewölbe, the Kypfertisch-Kabinet (historical prints and drawings), the Rüstkammer (Armor), the Türkische Cammer, and the Münzkabinett (Coins and Medals).  We decide to jettison the coins, and the prints and we go at the remainder gradually, starting with the Neues Grünes Gewölbe.  At the risk of being a philistine, it’s a collection of very expensive stuff: plates, statuary, gold, silver, jewels, you name it.  It is the “things of life” (and here I make a pun in that there is a subsequent exhibition at the Schlöß called “The Things of Life / The Life of Things – on which I will comment later. 

These, however, are not the ordinary things of life.  These are the things of the elites, and all assembled in one room it becomes something like eating several hot fudge sundaes.  It is enjoyable, and at the end of our run through I wonder what the real green vault, the one with even more precious things, will give to us.  We have a set time for this exhibition, so we rush through the armory room and the Turkish room, and stop for a light lunch where I have the most delicious Rotegrütze mit Vanillesoße, I think that I’ve ever had.  It’s compote of red fruits and is wonderful.  The recipe is here.

Now we see the real thing, the real Green Vault.  We submit our tickets and wait to enter through a sally port.  These rooms are interesting in that some of them survived the 1945 firestorm.  Those with windows facing the street were largely spared.  Those whose windows faced the courtyard were destroyed.  All have been completely restored, and the setting is quite beautiful.

These are not the things of life, however, these are beyond all of that – quite precious, and perhaps quite unnecessary.  Gifts between kings and princes are the stuff of fantasy and pretense.  They are fun to look at, but soon my eyes glaze over.

As it to ameliorate the effect of all this opulence, the display of “The Things of Life / The Life of Things” does not make a significant point.  A series of photographs by Wolfgange Scheppe is poised against a series of 99 bowls already held in the collection, which range from the sublime to the ridiculous. 

Neither of us “got it” and the commentary that accompanied the exhibition seemed specious at best.  So, our heads filled with so many images and sensations, we decided it was time to rest – to eat – and to absorb.  Meanwhile, back at that Rotegrütze…