(Michael Snow: Four Grey Panels and Four figures)

The other day I wrote about visiting art as a good first date. Today I want to focus on  architecture. What in the world does architecture have to do with love? you may ask.

Okay, so there’s this book Built Upon Love  in which the author,  “Alberto  Pérez-Gómez examines the nature of architectural form in the light of eros, seduction, and the tradition of the poetic image in Western architecture.”

That much I understood. The rest of the book is way above my head. It was, for me, synonymous to reading Ulysses. Still, it made me wonder how architecture has often been associated with love. Think of The Taj Mahal  in which the Emperor Shah Jahan, after his wife’s death, built a tomb that would be the most resplendent monument ever built by man for a woman.

Emperor Shah Jahan was not the only one to honor the love of a woman through architecture. In fact there are ten great castles  “built specifically as loving tributes, gifts, or even erected for love lost. Nothing is more powerful than love and expressing love in architecture is divinely romantic.”

Now, that’s love!

Okay, back to reality and architecture. My suggestion is to start of at the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion which is part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Converting an old church the pavilion holds one of the largest collections of Canadian art in the country.

At the time, the Chihuly exhibit was being shown next door.

Although the pavilion has  a fabulous collection of art it is also an architectural marvel.

Of course, I couldn’t pass by the art and was particularly impressed with the bottom of this canoe.

To leave the Claire and Marc Bourgie museum I had to go through the main entrance and so took these shots from inside the museum.

Pretty neat, eh?

One of the wonders of having a camera in your hand is that you notice things you would not notice otherwise. So, as I continued my walk westward I came across some pretty interesting architecture.  For example, there was this wall on one side of the University of Concordia Visual Arts Pavilion

And this clock in front of Lasalle College

What looking at architecture makes you do is see, become aware of your surroundings and in turn mindful of your feelings of the person you’re with. That’s why I think it makes a great date, especially if your date also has a camera.

But maybe in the end, one must also look at the foundation of a building to see if it will stand the test of time.

For isn’t that what great love is all about?

What are your thoughts? What do you think the foundation of a relationship is all about?