In continuing with my "details, details everywhere" posts about the amazingly ornate and rich decor of Southern Spain, I'm turning my attention away from the ground beneath our feet (very lucky feet get the opportunity to walk across such beautifully decorated ground!) to the walls at eye level. Spanish tile, like so much in Southern Spain, is heavily influenced by the Moorish presence in that area from 711 to 1492. I'm not a "numbers person", but those are 2 dates that just are so easy to remember! Just because the Moors were forced out (granted, some Moors assimilated, but this isn't meant to be a lesson in the re- Catholicization of Spain) didn't mean their design and aesthetic was lost. Thankfully, because the Moors, in my opinion, had excellent design taste!
Sometimes geometric, sometimes curvilinear, always colorful and always a bit mesmerizing, these tiles are works of art and they adorn so many of the walls in palaces, fortresses, and even more humble buildings. I find the use of color to be completely inspirational and believe decorators the world over have been gleaning from these palates. And, how ingenious to use cool tiles on walls in a locale where the summer temperatures, I hear, can be blistering hot. It's a marriage of form and function!
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| Seville tile - heavily decorated, yet there is a lightness |
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| geometric and bold - Casa de Pilatos, Sevilla |
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| a bold beauty |
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| simple squares turned into a visual masterpiece! |
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| warm colors, cool tiles |
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| squares and stars |
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| if you look at this long enough, I believe you will be hypnotized! |
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| star bursts of color! |
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