2018

Thanks to their city’s Museum of Art, legions of Tel Aviv’s sunseekers and volleyball players can also enjoy high culture. The Museum – home to one of the Middle East’s leading collections of 20th Century art – has allowed reproductions of its most famous paintings to feature as part of a pop-up gallery featuring works of such well known artists as Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Kandinsky, Van Gogh as well as paintings by lesser known artists. Many of the paintings depict scenes that evoke beaches or the sea – for example, "Mother and Child by the Seashore" an oil colour painted in 1901 by Pablo Picasso.

Thanks to their city’s Museum of Art, legions of Tel Aviv’s sunseekers and volleyball players can also enjoy high culture. The Museum – home to one of the Middle East’s leading collections of 20th Century art – has allowed reproductions of its most famous paintings to feature as part of a pop-up gallery featuring works of such well known artists as Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Kandinsky, Van Gogh as well as paintings by lesser known Israeli artists – for example, "Resting at Noon" an oil colour painted in 1926 by the Israeli artist Nahum Gutman.

Thanks to their city’s Museum of Art, legions of Tel Aviv’s sunseekers and volleyball players can also enjoy high culture. The Museum – home to one of the Middle East’s leading collections of 20th Century art – has allowed reproductions of its most famous paintings to feature as part of a pop-up gallery featuring works of such well known artists as Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Kandinsky, Van Gogh as well as paintings by lesser known artists. Many of the paintings depict scenes that evoke beaches or the sea – for example, "Hauling the Nets" an oil colour painted in 1899 by Henri-Edmond Cross.

David Ben Gurion was one of the founders of the modern state of Israel in 1948 and was its first prime minister. Aside from being a statesman, he was a deeply spiritual person – although not in a traditionally religious sense of the word. Residents of the area of what is now known as the Ben Gurion Boulevard often saw him doing yoga postures at the beach. In 1957, photographer Paul Goldman portrayed the moment Ben Gurion did a handstand on Frishman Beach beach in Tel Aviv. Today on that same spot there is a statue depicting the iconic image. The statue was made by the German company Artilink Productions, and was placed by the company Zebra Sets. In my opinion it is a very funny postcard of the city!

While Tel Aviv’s White City has been awarded the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site for its International Style architecture and the municipality has taken advantage of this by establishing a visitors’ center and tour of the cluster of Bauhaus buildings in its vicinity, the Bauhaus style of architecture actually thrived and prospered far more in Haifa. Moshe Guttel-Levine (1880-1976) and his wife Zipora, daughter of Joel Moshe Salomon (1882-1975) lived in this home located at 61 Moriyah Boulevard. The house was built in 1938 in the International Style designed by architect Moshe Het (1900-1972). Besides his pharmacy (which opened in 1906) Guttel-Levine served in numerous public posts: He chaired the Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Retail School Board of Directors. He was a member of the The Jewish National Council (JNC) also known as the Jewish People's Council was the main national executive institution of the Jewish community (Yishuv) within Mandatory Palestine. He also served from 1924 to 1948 on the board of the Haifa Hebrew Community. Famous for his mediation skills, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire during the time of the British Mandate over Palestine and bestowed by them the title of "Notable of Haifa."