Spira, Me & Art
Table of contents
The expedition
This here is Spira. Everything that’s flying around here.
Spira is the good soul of the building. The spirit of the art and the museum. You can encounter Spira everywhere here.
Spira absorbs everything that the visitors think and say here. Just like a sponge!
That gives Spira renewed strength. After all, it‘s not as if a spirit can simply eat a bowl of cereal.
Whenever someone gets bored in the museum or can’t think what to say, Spira helps out.
Because Spira has made it their business to pass on all the thoughts and ideas that have ever occurred here.
At night, when all the visitors have gone and things have gone quiet,
Spira is usually bored and their strength wanes.
Luckily, the artworks are able to distract Spira somewhat. It’s a wonderful way to pass the time.
Nevertheless, Spira can’t wait until the doors open again in the morning.
Spira is especially excited this morning. In the exhibition “Five Friends,” there are many surprising things to discover: a rooster, a bed, a wheel, pieces of mirror, mushrooms and much more!
The artworks were created by five friends. They were artists and real
adventurers. They traveled together and exchanged ideas. They experimented with colors, shapes and materials. They loved each other, life and art in its various forms.
Discover their worlds full of colors, movement and sounds!
5 Friends
John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns,
Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly
MUSEUM Sound
Imagine you are sitting in a quiet room, like perhaps in a museum right now.
What do you hear?
You might think: “nothing.”
But John found that silence is also full of sounds. Like the whispering of the world, which never quite stands still.
Traveling
Robert and Cy enjoyed traveling together. This always gave them new ideas for their art!
In Italy, they looked at all the cities and ruins. In North Africa, they visited brightly colored places and exciting landscapes.
MY TrAveLOGUe
Robert collected things such as paper, wood and metal while traveling. He later turned them into sculptures.
There are also traces of these experiences in Cy’s paintings: You will find colors and shapes from the countries he traveled to.
PiCTOriAL seCreTs
A bed in a museum? Can that really be?
Is it a real bed, a painting by Robert — or perhaps something in between?
Objects and materials have special properties that allow them to speak to us.
Artists often play with them.
Materials are like traces that tell a story. Our task is to read the story.
COMBine, COMBine ...???
Robert was known for his crazy compositions. He combined very different things and painting media in works of art.
He called these “Combines.”
What things would you put together to form a picture?
What do you want to say with it?
PLAY, drAW, LisTen TO sOUnds
Scores are like “recipes” for music. They are a kind of instruction manual.
They show musicians and singers which notes they should play or sing. How loud or soft, or how fast or slow.
How can you write down music even if you can’t read, or choose not to use, sheet music?
Think about what simple signs could stand for loud or quiet, fast or slow, high or low.
THe CrAZY MeeTinG
Here you can watch excerpts from a performance. John wrote the music.
The dancers often heard the music for the first time during the performance! Can you tell?
What words would you use to describe the movements?
A LOOK inTO THe FUTUre
Our five artists were fascinated by the technical developments of their time. The computer had only just been invented.
Computers need time to process data. In the past, this could take quite a long time.
Enough time to walk around. That’s what the term stands for.
During the performance, the dancers took breaks, stretched or put on new costumes. That was part of the dance!
Real sounds, such as conversations or car noise, can be heard in this piece.
What “modern” sounds would you incorporate into your music?
TriCKs WiTH PAinT And COLOrs
Can you see that the picture is made up of several layers of paint? What colors can you see in it?
If you look at it for longer, do the layers of color move?
THe POWer OF dOOdLinG
When Cy painted and drew this picture in 1968, an exciting time was beginning for space travel.
The first rockets flew into space, and just one year later the first man walked on the moon.
These advances inspired not only scientists, but also artists!
dAnCe OF THe AniMALs
Merce loved to observe and draw animals.
He found their movements exciting: how a cat creeps, a bird flies away or a rabbit suddenly jumps up.
He also used these ideas for his dance lessons. Can you recognize all the animals in his
drawings?
In his classes, the dancers were not asked to imitate animals, but rather to feel their special movements: fast, soft, surprising or calm.
How does your favorite animal move?
Talk, meet, plan, make
Our five friends worked together in a special way. They shared common interests, but each worked independently.
Merce created the movements (choreography). John composed the
music. Cy, Robert and Jasper designed the set and costumes.
But no one knew how it would all fit together in the end. An exciting experiment in the arts!
John loved a special kind of wordplay:
in his letters, he wrote poems in such a way that a vertical row of letters resulted in a new word or even a sentence.
WHO WAnTs TO JOin in?
Costumes help us to slip into a different role.
Almost as if we were traveling to a new world.
What have you ever dressed up as?
Did your costume take you to an exciting fantasy world?
Cy Twombly in Museum Brandhorst
Cy Twombly was born around 100 years ago in Lexington, Virginia (USA). Spira got to know him personally in 2009, at the opening of Museum Brandhorst.
“When I was growing up, during the summers with my parents we were
always […] by the sea. You know, sometimes little boys love cars, but I
had a particular passion for boats […]”
Cy Twombly
Cy studied at the famous Black Mountain College in the USA. A colorful mix of interests was represented there. Painters collaborated with musicians, dancers with writers, and vice versa.
Das bereicherte Cy sehr! That enriched Cy a lot! Later, he would also find ideas in music, history, in myths and poetry.
Painting Stories
More than 450 years ago, Venice, Spain and the Vatican joined an alliance. On October 7, 1571, a naval battle took place with the Ottoman Empire near the village of Lepanto on the Greek coast.
It is said to have been a bright Sunday. The battle itself lasted a whole day. Many ships sank, and numerous people died. Some of the Ottomans, who had been surprised by the attackers, were able to escape. This battle was only one of many.
Venice hosts an art exhibition every two years: The Venice Biennale is world famous! Cy was also invited to take part in it.
In 2001 he painted these twelve paintings for the exhibition. It must have been impressive to see the paintings in Venice.The city is right at the sea, and in addition to streets made of stone there are also waterways, so-called canals. Boats are everywhere!
Venetian warships took part in the battle of Lepanto over 450 years ago. The might of the former naval power can still be felt in Venice today.
Spira drew a few shapes from Cy’s pictures onto the page.
What do they remind you of?
Draw several pictures about your story. Can you imbue each picture with a feeling or a mood?
Birthday Flowers
Cy Twombly really swung his paintbrush vigorously. He made flowers grow on the canvases.
He donated them to Museum Brandhorst when it opened.
Cy Twombly loved poems. Verses of poems are hidden in each rose painting. The pictures relate to the texts.
Can you find them?
What do you associate with roses? Why might Cy have chosen them as a motif to match the poems?
Schreibe hier dein eigenes Gedicht über Rosen.
Experiment with Cy and Spira
Have you ever drawn without looking? Or traced a motif the wrong way round? How do you manage the path directly from your gut feeling to your hand?
Every color can be described with feelings or things. And feelings and topics can be expressed with colors. That’s exactly how Cy Twombly painted.
Fill your own museum
“Thank you so much for accompanying me!”
Now fill your own museum with all your impressions!
Thank you for your interest—we hope you enjoyed the Art Expedition!
If you’d like to discover the artworks in the museum in person: Children and teens under 18 get free admission! You’ll find more creative ideas in our workshops or online.
This Art Expedition was published in April 2024.
Published by: Museum Brandhorst, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich
Text and concept: Kirsten Storz and Andrea Zabric
With contributions from: BRSO and you | Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Museum Education Center (MPZ), Ophelia Herberth, and Laura Osbild
Editing: Ursula Fethke
Translation: Carolyn Kelly
Illustrations: Stefanie Leinhos and Carla Nagel
Art direction: PARAT.cc and 4th motion
This Art Expedition was developed with the generous support of PIN. Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne e.V. and their partner, ALLIANZ.
