Final Judgement

Today we visited the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, and we got to see ¨La Planchadora¨by Pablo Picasso. It was amazing to be standing less than 10 feet away from such a wonderful painting. As beautiful as it was there was another painting that truly caught my eye. It was ¨Final Judgement¨by Martin De Vos.

It was painting that depicted the final judgment and how people were being separated between heaven and hell. There were several demons grabbing on to people and pulling down to the side. Those who were being pulled into hell had looks of agony on their face. In the very back of the painting you could see people being tortured by being stretched out and apart and by hanging. Up above all of this are angels coming down and bringing people up to heaven. Those people who are being touched by the angels to be taken into heaven have a look of relief upon their faces, like a lost child who has found her mother, its a huge weight taken off. The way De Vos had it all meshed together, at first glance you can’t really tell who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. As you look at it closer and longer at it you can see the angles coming down and people crying. It’s a painting of both eternal pain and happiness.


What attracted me most was off to side of the painting there is a pair of yellow eyes. At first you can’t tell what it is, but as you look at it you realize that they are they eyes of serpent. The snake eyes are evil yellow and the mouth is open, and inside the mouth is where the condemned are at. These beasts like looking creatures are tossing, or pulling them into the fire. All the while the others are at the bottom waiting to meet their maker.

Martin De Vos ¨Juicio Final¨

The reconquest.

Wow its been really hectic theses past few days. I think all the traveling is finally catching up to me. Right now we are in Sevilla, we got here yesterday, Saturday. Thursday and Friday we were in Torremolinos, which is now my favorite place to be. It has a wonderful beach and ice-cold water. Friday was a free day, so my roommate and I spent the whole day at the beach. It was truly a day of relaxation. We sprawled out on the beach chairs under the umbrella and got a golden tan. Well my roommate got a golden tan, and I just got darker. Either way it was great.

About half way through the day two people walked by selling half hour massages, so we figured we might as well get one. It was great to have a massage while being on such a wonderful beach, for a second there I forgot where I was. I was so relaxed I think I fell asleep shortly after that. As comfortable as I was with just laying down we did get up and get in the water. I swear my toes were blue because the water was so cold. As you walk deeper in your legs start stinging a little because of how cold it is. If you just jump in and start swimming it makes it easier to adjust to the temperature.

Well with a day of relaxation comes several days of work. In class we went over the re-conquest of Spain. One key player of the re-conquest was a man who went between sides, the moor and the Christians, El Cid. El Cid is a native of Burgos, but Spain as a whole adopted him as a national hero. Another major part of the re-conquest was the expelling of the Jewish. They were given a choice to be baptized or to leave and never return. Although they were allowed to take their belongings with them they had to give up all money and land as well as any other property they owned. The Jews were kicked out simply because it was thought that they were persuading others to go back to the old religion. There were several reasons as to why the re-conquest happened. It was to establish political and religious unity, to weaken local political opposition to catholic monarchs; out of fear and profit are just a few of those reasons.

Well I still have much to see as well as much to learn.