It's hot in Taipei. Terribly terribly hot. And humid. Walking a mere 5 minutes outside in the shade means that you're already drenched in sweat. So in hopes of escaping this weather while doing something interesting, I headed off today to one of Taipei's many museums.
The National Museum of History is not one of the larger museums in the city, but its frugal price tag of 30 NTD ($1 USD) and its proximity to an errand I had to run made it the destination of the day. I had no idea what was being displayed, and was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few exhibitions available.
But because of my errand, I had to detour through the Taipei Botanical Gardens on the way. While this wasn't particularly pleasant temperature-wise, all was forgiven when a view of the museum's rear came into view, flanked by a giant lotus pond.
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| Giant expanse of lotus plants |
Alas, it was a cloudy day today and therefore I had terrible lighting for the pictures. But it was really very pretty!
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| A picturesque pavilion amidst a jungle of lotus plants |
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| Gorgeous lotus bloom |
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| Unsurprisingly, there were more than several artists set up along the pond |
Finally, I circled around to the entrance of the museum. About time too; I felt like I was about to melt! And after paying my dollar entry, I slipped into the soothing air conditioned halls and appreciated myself some art.
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| Front of museum. I had luckily JUST missed a load full of schoolkids, apparently. |
There were four main exhibitions on display in addition to its permanent art. The first featured porcelain dolls painted by chiu zhou artists, depicting Chinese opera performers.
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| It's like... a fancy diorama |
Another exhibition featured some modern jade works by an artist named Tu Kuo Wei. I have to admit, I didn't understand most of it, which featured jade carved into small cubes or rods. Frankly, I thought they totally looked like something else.......
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| I did like this one piece though, carved out of jade |
Meandering upstairs, I ended up spending quite some time looking at the prolific works by Tsai Mao Sung, who primarily did ink paintings and calligraphy. His works were numerous, filling up several rooms. I ended up snapping way too many photos to post here, so here are just some of my favorites.
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| This one suggests a serene mountain scene, the mist gently dissipating as the sun rises |
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| Bummer, this one was framed behind glass so there's a glare. But this may have been my favorite piece! The brooding mountains, the red trees... it's all so moody! |
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| I found this one quite romantic, with the two small figures in the foreground, holding hands. :) |
As a huge contrast, the museum also housed some oil paintings by Chiang Long Fang, whose bold and colorful work reminded me of... an artist who I can't remember at the moment. :P I can't pretend to be an art connoisseur! He does seem to have a thing for chickens though...
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| Chicken! Names of pieces, left to right: Messenger of Fortune, Moving Forward No. 1, and Pride |
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| This large piece (at least 6 feet tall) gives off a very American vibe to me! |
All in all, this was a pleasant and cool way to spend a few hours. It's nice that Taipei has quite a few museums to choose from, and I'll try to go to another one before the week is out and I am back on the grind.
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