War Is Hell, But (Most) Art Is Pleasurable

After docking back in the city of Bordeaux, we boarded busses to see the "Bassins Des Lumieres," (the basins of light) at the former U Boat (submarine) base for the Nazis (and Italians) as part of the submarine bases all along the west coast of France.

There had been lengthy discussions after the war about what to do with the base.  Destroying it would be a massive effort, as it is huge and has thick walls.  It took nearly two years to build, was over 800 feet long and 62 feet high.

It had eleven pens, eight of which were dry docks for fixing damaged U Boats.  An Allied bombing raid was launched on May 17, 1943, but the bombs that hit didn't penetrate the thick concrete.  The bombs that didn't hit ended up killing nearby civilians (I don't know the number).

Now it is used for cultural events, corporate parties, and, when we went, a massive light display (hence the "Lumieres") of Vermeer and Van Gogh paintings shown on the wall.  There was concern it would be a place of veneration for neo-Nazis after the war, but apparently they like to march in Charlottesville and, recently, many other American college campuses.   

It's very similar to the Van Gogh and Monet light shows Carol and I have been to with friends in D.C., but different, because the submarine pens are massive.

I'm more of a Van Gogh guy than a Vermeer guy (although the "Girl With A Pearl Earring" is fantastic, even though I was today years old when I learned she's not a real person, not built on any particular actual person.  At the times, such fictionalized work was called a "tronie.")

We strolled around four submarine pens were were flashing up different works of art.  Vermeer's were first and then Van Gogh's art came second.  There was also a section with an interesting history of the building and use of the base during the war.

We skipped the second show, which was a shorter one based on the works of Piet Mondrian.  I had never heard of him.  I know what you're thinking. . .

Yup, that's exactly the

reaction I expected.

Carol said I wouldn't be a fan.  Having looked up some of his paintings, she's right.  To me, it's more examples of the lack of creativity of modern art.  To you it might be artistic genius. . .but hard pass from me.

The Vermeer and Van Gogh paintings projected onto the walls of the submarine pens were hard to photo.  Here's the "best" of the ones I took.  The number of deleted, failed photos outnumbered the ones good enough to post here:

A welcome for our group projected

onto the walls of the U Boat pens.

I probably should delete this

because it's so dark, but it is

Vermeer's most famous work.

These walls are massive.  The

foreground is water where the

U Boats would be.

And here's a few works from Van Gogh.

Even though the photos are quite dark, the goal is to give you a feel for what was projected onto the concrete walls.