Joan Miro

Dona i ocell (Woman and bird) in Parc de l'Escorxador, Barcelona by Joan Miro. He is one of the famous Catalan artists in Barcelona whose among others include Antoni Gaudi, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. There is a museum of his works located in Montjuic Hill, not far from here.

Dali as Mona Lisa

"Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy - the joy of being Salvador Dalí - and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?"

- Salvador Dali

Note: Salvador Dali is one of the greatest artists in Barcelona. Dali Museum is the masterpiece of his work which located in Figueres, 1 hour 15 minutes journey from Barcelona. The town is a hometown to Dali.

Craft and Art II

“With craft, whenever you ask, you get answers. The art is to get more questions—the right questions—flowing from the answers you received to prior questions.” – Kenneth L. Fisher

Most often the praises are go towards the artist or architect who build the wonderful building although the building not necessary done himself by these people. In fact it involves many people such as sculptors, painters and craftsmen to make the building great. For example, when you visit Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, what lies in your mind is its architect name: Antonio Gaudi. You would not bother the many great sculptors, painters and craftsmen who make the building great. That’s the reality of life. That’s the reason that I often call for developing more multi-disciplinary generalists rather than professionals. The society needs professionals such as sculptors and painters and there are bunch of them in fact. The lack of the generalist like Antonio Gaudi who could integrate all known worldly wisdom and apply it to his work and making its work become an art, an invaluable art.

In investment world, same phenomenon happens. There are lots of so-called professionals. Often, they treat the investment “piece-by-piece” and make an analysis based on this analogy. This is similar to the physician who gives the treatment based on the patient complaint, that’s when patient complaints about headache, give them panadol. What’s the underlying reasons that causes headache is none of their business. When the society filled with these “professionals”, there is no wonder why so many fund managers performed poorly. At the same time, who does possess art but not craft, stands out as a winner like Warren Buffett and Charles Munger.

Note: "Lincoln in Dalivision" by Salvador Dali, one of the greatest modern artist where his arts could be found in Barcelona.

Barcelona

Sometimes I just wonder why there are so many differences between the cities. In New York, you could find a lot of sky scrapers; in Paris, you could find a lot of museums and in Venice, there are so many ancient buildings hidden along the canals. Barcelona is an unique city. Its uniqueness lies on its possession of masterpieces of its great architects. Among them are Juan Miro, Antonio Gaudi, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. I am wondering why Barcelona possess these unique people where other cities do not posses. The reason is simple, could you imagine if Antonio Gaudi lives in Amazon rain forest? Will he ever have a chance to deliver his ideas and left the masterpieces of his artworks to the world? Very unlikely because he would be struggle to fight for his living against the harsh environment of the Amazon.


The nation could become a great nation because its appreciation to the talents. The talents not necessary a native locals, they could be foreigners. As long as these foreigners have skills and talents that could contribute to the nation, they are all welcomed and would be granted with citizenship or permanent resident status. The examples of these nations are United States and Singapore. In contrast, the nations where the talents are not welcomed because of the political issue would not be a great nation. It’s pity for the citizen of these nations though they can choose to leave his nation and heading to the places that welcome and appreciate them. A great nation is the nation where its citizen will feel proud of his nation when travel outside his nation. If this feeling could be felt only in his own nation but not during his trip outside his nation, this is just an illusion, an illusion that most of the time manipulated by the political animals in his nation.

Note: 3 mosaic designs were taken in Parc Guell, one of the masterpiece by Antonio Gaudi; The poster features 4 of the greatest artists in Barcelona were taken outside the souvenir shop nearby Sagrada Familia (The Holy Church), another masterpiece of Antonio Gaudi which is expected to be completed by 2020.

The Masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926) was a famous architect in Spain. One of his famous architecture which is still under development is La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family Church) in Barcelona. It is declared by UNESCO in 2005 as one of the World Heritage.

The cathedral is the present of Gaudi to God. The architecture resembles a concept of jungle while its pillars are resembles the trees in the jungle. Because of his love of the nature, most of his designs resemble elements from the environment. In order to develop his enormous architectonic work, Gaudí gathered an exceptional set of collaborators, such as architects, sculptors and craftsmen.
In his early years, he spent most of his time in his house by observing the nature and its design because of rheumatism. In his education life, he only able to obtain a mediocre result though it did not stop him from becoming one of the greatest architect for the later part. During his graduation ceremony, his director of the school, Professor Elias Rogent after present him a degree, proclaim,” I don’t know whether we are graduating a genius or a fool.”

Gaudi devoted himself 40 years in the developing of his last and beloved masterpiece, La Sagrada Famila before he hit by a tramway. The most pitiful was after he was hit down, none giving out their helping hands to help him to a hospital. Because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, taxi drivers refused to do so for the fear he is unable to pay the fare. Eventually, he was a taken to a hospital but died after 3 days. With his leaving, the masterpiece remained unfinished and the developing is scheduled to complete in 2020.