THE EVENT To quote the Cubans, a cigar is like a woman, it needs to be admired, caressed and "warmed up" before placing to your lips to enjoy. As the CEO of Habanos remarked, women are an indispensable part of the Habanos legacy and future. 70% of the people involved in the growing, production, distribution and marketing of cigars are women. To celebrate women, Habanos developed a vitola especially sized, cured and packaged for women.
THE LOCATION For the presentation of the new vitolas "Julieta" we are to spend the evening at the Museo de Bellas Artes. A beautiful modern building just across the street from the Museo de la Revolution... a stark contrast where one can view graphic photos of combat kills and executions by the glorious Cuban army.
One mid-eighteenth century day in London, the Venetian painter Canaletto found himself a bit strapped for cash and decided that drastic measures had to be taken. Whipping out a handy blade, he sliced in half a rather long landscape he'd painted, to sell both halves separately. Now one half of Chelsea from the Thames hangs in Blickling Hall in Norfolk. The other half is in Havana in the Museo de Bellas Artes. There are many pieces from from all over the world that reside in this expansive and rather clinical museum.
There is the usual gauntlet of young people we walk through to get our goodie bag and glass of champers. I stroll around for a little while and discover some Cubano art that is all naked exotic women only wearing flowers in their hair. A young lady who works for the museum comes up to me and asks in Spanish if I have any questions. She speaks English and I asked who the painter was...? She curtly replies it is the greatest impressionist in the world- Jose Rolando Raul Martinez....erhhh, well you get the idea. She briskly does a 180 and trots off mumbling some form of obscenities under her breath. I decide to find my table...
No comments:
Post a Comment