Modern museum

Colorful Leon, Spain Museum

Modern museum

The MUSAC museum in Leon, Spain

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, AKA the MUSAC, is a contemporary art museum in the city of LeónSpain. The building is celebrated for its avant-garde architecture, and it has been awarded a number of prizes incuding the 2007 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.  Designed by the architectural studio of Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón, the multicolored panels that adorn the exterior resemble the stained-glass windows of a cathedral. The architects drew their inspiration for this work from the main rose window (called The Falconer) at the 13th century Gothic cathedral, Santa María de León. It is a “Museum of the Present”, in the words of its curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, and collects artworks only from the period between 1992 and 2012. It is a visual landmark in the city and seeing it person was a thrill. The exterior is exciting and is as imposing as a large cathedral. The colored panels do remind me of those paint slips you get when you are considering colors for your house.

 

Shingle Style

Shingle Style Historic Homes

This past year I’ve had a large number of clients with what architectural historians call “Shingle Style” homes. These were generally built in the latter part of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th. This influx got me thinking of what color choices people in that time period had. In my research collection I came across an 1899 Cabot Stains brochure with actual stained wood samples, as well as a few pictures of stained homes. I was not surprised to see the normal run of brown offerings. But what struck me was the brightness of the green offerings. These do match up well to modern day paint and stain colors so that today’s home owner can have an authentic look. It’s always interesting to go back in time to see what was happening with house color over a hundred years ago.

wood stain

Cabot Stain wood sample from 1899