I somewhat regretted going to see the "European Art Museum" in Bucharest, but the ticket was only 10 Lei (about £2) so it was no great loss, other than my time.
It got off to a bad start with doors so heavy I had to put my whole body weight behind my shoulder in order to open them. I know I have weak arms but this was ridiculous.
The artwork on display was very old and mostly religious (yipee my favourite!) and some of it disturbingly gruesome, including the above depiction of the "Massacre of the Innocents"...
Another which seemed to depict a gang rape...
And then not one, but two paintings of baby boys being circumcised.... Whyyyyyyyyy?
There was also this bizarre depiction of "the virgin" breast feeding Jesus which must have been painted by a man because no woman's breast has ever looked like this or been located so far up her chest.
I was also amused by the fact that none of the artists seemed able to convincingly paint a cat - like it's not that hard to make a cat look like an actual cat and not some kind of dephormed otter with Disney princess eyes (or no eyes at all).
The winged bodyless cherub heads were extremely disturbing.
There was some slightly more modern art, such as this Monet painting, but nothing particularly impressing. I was enjoying the frames more than the artworks themselves.
The only artwork I really liked was this bronze sculpture 'Silence' by Antoine-Augustin Preault. Which had to be embedded in a box which was attached to the wall.
If I am honest, the building was more imnteresting than most of the artworks being displayed - my favourite part was walking fown the most impressive marble staircase I have ever seen in my life - to the exit.
After I managed to force the door open with my entire body weight, I realised there were actually two more museums in the complex. I wandered over to the ticket inspector to enquire if my ticket would let me into the others - apparently it did. Hoping for some more modern works, I ventured inside - no such luck, we seemed to have gone back in time, not forward. The main vibe was GOLD and the musty smell of religious relics was over powering.
I liked this painting only because the flakey pattern of the wood was interesting - I don't think it was intended to look like this.
I was also amused that Jesus' loin cloth in this tapestry seemed to be embroidered with sequins - I didn't know they had those back in the day.
The only artwork which vaguely interested me was this Moldovan ceramic. I scarpered as quickly as possible and didn't bother to visit the third museum.
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