Picasso Porn and a word meaning "loud and tacky"

Have you ever seen a porn channel that has been scrambled because you haven't paid for it? I've heard that referred to as "Picasso Porn"...you see a boob here, an arm there, a belly button, a penis. In no particular anatomical order.

Last week, I visited the Picasso museum in Barcelona. It focuses primarily on Picasso's works as a young child and teenager. I was absolutely amazed at this young boy's genius. Of course his style was very different from the Picasso we all recognize (apparently he was very much influenced by his traditional father). His portraits were so detailed, so perfect, so realistic.

The biggest surprise I had in this museum was the "porn room". It was a series of drawings from Picasso's teenage years. It was actually a bit humorous as you can imagine the things he was discovering at this point in his life. There were drawings depicting virtually every kind of sex act. There was the drawing of a nude woman with a big huge fish where her genitals should be. Or actually, the fish was sort of "attached" to the genital area. And the drawing which I lovingly called "too much information" depicting a woman obviously having her period standing next to a stool covered with blood.

The other artist I "met" during my Spain trip was Gaudi. Barcelona's pride and joy. At least he is now- he certainly wasn't so appreciated when he was alive. While his style is not exactly my taste...I could appreciate the pure talent, vision, originality. He was clearly one of those "ahead of his time" type of artists. We wondered if the term "gaudy" came from Gaudi. One of my fellow travelers said that she would never use that term again as she felt it was disrespectful to an extremely talented individual.

I was amazed at the science and the creativity behind Gaudi's architecture. I also appreciated the fact that he worked with different textures and colors.

My approach to art has always been that I like something just because I like it. I never wanted to study it. To learn about it. To know the history. My peek into Barcelona's art world has me thinking that maybe I should reconsider!