Spanish National Honor Society views Picasso exhibit
Participating in a variety of activities while viewing artist Pablo Picasso’s work, students learn more about Spanish culture
March 3, 2018
Traveling to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Friday, March 2, students from Spanish National Honor Society viewed an exhibit focusing on artist Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, “Through the Eyes of Picasso.” While there, students participated in a variety activities, some of which included trying to replicate different pieces of Picasso’s work as well as considering the meaning behind some of his pieces.
According to club sponsor Jan Good-Bollinger, having cultural field trips like this is an important part of Spanish NHS.
“One of the whole purposes of Spanish National Honor Society is to continue to nurture the interest brought in the world view of students, and reward them for the language component that they’ve worked so hard on,” Good-Bollinger said. “[Cultural field trips] give students a better chance to understand the bigger picture in the world, [and] this exhibit especially [gave] a very international feeling.”
While the students knew they would be viewing some of Picasso’s work, the exhibit also provided a variety of pieces that were unexpected.
“What surprised me was how [the exhibit] showed how he started and the phases he went through during his career,” junior Johannes Seberger said. “It was also surprising to see his inspirations and witness how his art was created.”
Although Spanish NHS has done cultural field trips like this in the past, Good-Bollinger believed the Picasso exhibit was especially interesting.
“Last year, we did a similar trip except it was to the collection, in general, of Spanish pieces in the gallery,” Good-Bollinger said. “You can request that kind of a tour, but I thought [the Picasso exhibit] was an especially good exhibit [because] it connected with the way Picasso tapped into the artwork of African colonies and brought in all of these themes from all over the world.”
Overall, viewing the Picasso Exhibit proved to be a valuable experience.
“I enjoy these field trips because I get to expand my knowledge on other cultures and learn about what makes these cultures unique and different,” Seberger said. “It has taught me more about the artistic side of the Spanish culture and how Picasso and other Spanish painters got ideas for their artwork.”
