Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the people of Ubud were free to follow creative and musical pursuits.
Cokorda Gede Agung
Sukawati
(1910-78) cultivated the arts, and actively encouraged foreign artists to live in his
district. The most significant of these was the artist and musician
Walter Spies
, who estab-
lished himself in the hamlet of Campuhan in 1927. Over the next decade or so, Spies intro-
duced new ideas to Ubud's already vibrant
artistic community
. A crowd of other Western
intellectuals followed in his wake, including the Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet and the Canadian
musician Colin McPhee, who between them injected a new vigour into the region's arts and
crafts, which have thrived ever since.
Central Ubud
Covering the area between Jalan Raya Ubud in the north and the Monkey Forest in the south,
and between the Campuhan bridge in the west and the Genral Post Office in the east,
Central
Ubud
's chief draws are its restaurants and shops. However, it does hold a few notable sights,
including Ubud's oldest art museum,
Puri Lukisan
, and the
Threads of Life
textile gallery.
Museum Puri Lukisan
Jl Raya Ubud • Daily 9am-6pm • Rp50,000 • 0361 971159,
museumpurilukisan.com
The
Museum Puri Lukisan
is best visited as an adjunct to the far superior Neka Art Mu-
seum, just over 2km west in
Sanggingan
. Set in well-maintained gardens, Puri Lukisan
(“Palace of Paintings”) was founded in 1956 by the Ubud
punggawa
(local administrator)
Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati and the Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet. Before visiting it's worth
noting that significant redevelopment is currently underway so the arrangement of the mu-
seum's galleries is subject to change.
The
First Pavilion
, Pitamaha Gallery, located at the top of the garden, is largely given over
to prewar Balinese paintings, mostly black-and-white
Batuan-style
and early
Ubud-style
pictures depicting local scenes. There's also a good selection of distinctive drawings by I