Il Capitolio from my window at Hotel Saratoga

Day 2

I am back after another long but very good day.  We headed out this morning and picked up the ex- head of the National Museum of Fine Arts because it was pouring.  The street where she lives hardly looks habitable or inhabited..in fact, as you pass these gorgeous buildings you peer quickly through windows and doors and see emptiness inside..I wondered if they were lived in and, when I asked, was told that multiple families share what was once a one family house.  Luz, this lovely 60 year old lady, came out of the rusted doorway in a crisp white blouse, a kind of J Crew bling necklace on, short cropped hair, a skirt and heels.  We drove on to the museum, a wonderful midcentury building whose outstanding feature is the white ramp that winds up three flights and was constructed as a nod to NYC’s Guggenheim Museum.  The collection is the ONLY all-Cuban collection of paintings and sculpture in the world, and it is intact and marvelous, spanning more than 100 years right through the Modern period of the 70’s, to the in-your-face contemporary material that references political and social issues.   I was interested in the earlier material and had a wonderful two hours with Luz discovering Cuba visually in the painted images of the past.  So interesting and some of the work so beautiful.  And what I came away with was the understanding that the US and the West’s relations with Cuba go way, way back, and that there has always been a dialogue between us..in this case, an artistic dialogue for you can see Picasso, Sargent and Diego Rivera, the WPA and even early Vogue Magazine covers in this Cuban work.  People have always borrowed, influenced and been influenced- we have been neighbors and friends and, sometimes, brothers and sisters – and so it makes the 1959 to the present isolation between us  feel ever so sad and wasted.  From there we drove out to look for my great uncle’s house on Country Club road just outside of town.  The houses that are left are indeed fabulous, but I could not find Uncle Mario’s. We drove back to the city to a paladar for lunch – a delicous lunch, actually, of pork and tamales and nuggets of lobster and a weak mojito!    The afternoon was more art – a new contemporary gallery of The Merger – three artists who sign their work that way and produce their pieces together. One might do the sketch, another render the sketch in to a sculpture and the third onto canvas.  I didn’t care for the art, a bit obvious, declaratory, ugly.  We went on to the final visit of the day – the Ludwig Foundation, a fascinating non-profit located in a beautifully restored penthouse and run with money given by the German family (ex-chocolate fortune) to support young contemporary artists.  I was treated to an interesting overview of their work by Alvaro, a Cuban who is involved in the audio/video part of the foundation, has interned at NYU, and has married an American girl.  He was a star..articulate, knowledgeable and passionate about art.    And, finally, I went to the shop of a girl, whose work I saw in the Ludwig Foundation’s space, called Clandestino: Tienda de Diseno..a wonderful tiny shop in the old city that has cool t-shirts, bags and other bits and pieces. Such sweet people that I bought some t-shirts and hung about for a bit. We dined at La Cocina de Lilliam, another restaurant in a private house in Mirador open Tuesday to Saturday where the owner, Lilliam (with an adorable pekingese dog who scampers around her feet), greets guests and cooks.  The appetizer of grilled shrimp came adorned with a glass bowl in which a goldfish swam furiously around! Favorite thing were the plantain chips..delicious.