Istanbul, Day 7: A visit to Istanbul Modern

Today, we decided we felt confident enough to handle the tram system again and headed for the Istanbul Modern to see what Turkish art was like.  We missed the stop and had to go back again, but this gave us the opportunity to see an old man sitting in the park with his ducklings and 3 dogs.  Amazingly, the dogs ignored the ducklings.  Mine would have devoured them in a second!

 Istanbul Modern was not the red scaffolding building we thought it was but was a fairly bland looking building accessed via a construction site and a car park.  However, it is on the water's edge so has great views.  And there are some sculptures in the "garden" outside, like this one by Richard Deacon, called "House Version".

Inside, we were greeted by this huge bright work by Elkin Yalkindag, "Contrasts"

and this one by Fahrelnissa Feid, "My Hell".

Not all the works were this abstract.  This more realistic one is by Ash Torcu and is called "Circumcision Feast:

and this one by Hakan Gursoytrak ,  is called "Employment Agency"

And, there was this charming piece, "Portrait of a Woman in a Coat" by Hamit Gorele.

Both Bob and I liked this mixed media piece  by  Burhan  Doganhay called "The Magnificent Age" a lot:

This bright piece is by Ozdemir Zaltan and is called "Dog Walking Areas Integration Project" (Triptych).

I found these two pieces by Yaris Arabasi ("Racing Car")

and Kirmizi Araba ("Red Car")

similar and amusing, but they were not really my favourites.  

However both of us adored the use of light in this piece by Allaetin Aksoy, "Gardens of my Childhood".  It is wonderful!

And I really liked Neset Gunal's "Problem.

Bob was quite interested in the style of this artist, Nurrulah Berk.  This piece is called "Sleeping Beauty"

There were other exhibitions too. I liked the more muted pieces by Mehmet Guleryuz. These are all his work:  "Trolleybus Condcutor"

"You hit too"

and "The Monkeys"

As we left, we came across this installation aimed at the bibliophiles of the world.  What fun! 

The museum has a fairly expensive restaurant but we decided to catch the tram to the fish market and have lunch under the beady eyes of the local cats and gulls. 

 We ignored them and kept our eyes across the Golden Horn.

Later in the evening, we joined the crowds in Sultanahmet admiring the views in the evening.  Another lovely day.