Glimpses 驚豔

Majorca 馬略卡

Professor Hui Cheuk Kuen, Desmond (許焯權教授)

Majorca is an island 45 mins by plane south of Barcelona. This is a magic fantasy island full of culture and the arts: many famous writers and artists visited the place and created their novels, poems and artworks; some even settled there for the rest of their lives – among them were George Sand and Chopin, Joan Miro, Agatha Christie, Jorge Luis Borges, Nobel Prize winner Camillo Jose Cela and the English poet Robert Graves, to name a few. I was invited to Majorca by a friend from Barcelona whose grandfather – who happened to be the architect in charge of building the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona after Gaudi passed away - built their family vacation house on the island. While staying at the house, I painted this view from the terrace overlooking the Balearic Sea to the north, wondering what my friend’s architect grandfather would do, while leaving the construction of Gaudi’s masterpiece to others during his vacation time… Would he still be obsessed with solving the geometrical intricacies of the cathedral, or would he, like me, enjoy a moment of quietude in front of this serene glimpse of nature’s beauty?

從巴塞羅拿往南飛行四十五分鐘便可抵達馬略卡島，這是一個充滿傳奇和極富文藝色彩的島嶼，曾經在這裡定居和創作的文人和藝術家不勝枚舉: 包括波蘭作曲及鋼琴家蕭邦和他的情人喬治桑，西班牙藝術家米羅，英國小說家愛葛莎克利斯蒂，阿根廷詩人作家博爾赫斯，西班牙諾貝爾文學獎得主塞拉，英國詩人羅伯特格雷夫斯等等。我的一個巴塞羅拿朋友邀請我到他在馬略卡島的渡假屋住幾天，這個房子是朋友的祖父興建的，而原來他的祖父是在西班牙建築大師高迪逝世後負責聖家教堂工程的總建築師，我在房子的陽台繪畫了這幅向北遠眺巴利阿里海的風景畫，猜想朋友的祖父放下教堂工程來這裡渡假的時候，還會繼續思考怎樣構建複雜的幾何形狀，或是像我此刻一樣，沉醉在當下一瞥迷人和安詳的自然景色呢？

August 2, 2014

Deià, Spain

Multicolored

Watercolors