Sometimes it’s dark… sometimes it’s light. I crave the light.
The scintillating sophistry of a summer storm…
It’s been a busy summer, what with work and the ongoing house and car projects. But here’s one I had to make time for – A Trick of the Tarnhelm, Fritz Lang, we salute you.
Van Gogh and Britain – Tate Britain, London Excited at the prospect of Van Gogh and Britain, I made a bee line for it in April 2019. After last year’s visit to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, I still had an appetite for some more of Vincenzo’s work. There’s…
Inspired by my recent visit to the Bonnard exhibition at the Tate, I found some new inspiration (including a wee nod to Arshile Gorky) and some new colours to add to my ever increasing palette. For fans of A Clockwork Orange everywhere. I’m quite liking it!
The Colour of Memory – Tate Modern, London Pierre Bonnard – A Great Start to my year My first exhibition of 2019 and frankly, what a great start to the year. Pierre Bonnard has always been something of an enigma to me. He has tended to have a close association…
The first work of 2019. Occasionally, you have to break it down, to build it up again. Created after a particularly difficult time, this is a painting of hope and looking towards the sun… to let the shadows fall behind.
Abstract Expressionism Convergence – Jackson Pollock – Google Arts & Culture Abstract Expressionism. Firstly, this is one of the biggies for me. Although it began slightly earlier, it is best recognised as centred in New York in the late 1940s and 1950s. It was also known as the New…
Paul Cézanne – 19.1.1839 – 22.10. 1906. Firstly, this chap is definitely in my top 10. Heralded by most as the father of Modern Art, he was utterly dedicated to his passion. Although associated with the impressionists, Cézanne was never quite one of them. He (almost single-handedly) made the transition between the…
Mark Rothko – 25.9.1903 – 25.2.1970. Firstly, this is one artist who is sure to divide opinion. Heralded by some (including me) as a genius. By others, they fail to see what he is on about. He was born in Latvia in 1903. In around 1913, his family emigrated to the…
Self-Portrait, Sir Stanley Spencer, 1959 | Tate Self Portrait – Sir Stanley Spencer. Firstly, this is what I believe is called unflinching. Painted in the last few months of his life, after unsuccessful surgery for cancer. It has a potency, and an ultimate sadness to it. You can see…
Stanley Spencer Gallery – Cookham, Berkshire – November 2018 In the Autumn of 2018, a rather fortuitous circumstance found me in the delightful Berkshire village of Cookham and the Stanley Spencer Gallery. Cookham – Wikipedia This charming village right by Old Father Thames was where one of England’s quirkiest…
Haystacks: Snow Effect Haystacks: Snow Effect – Claude Monet. This is the very first Monet I saw up close. It blew me away then and it blows me away still. The subject matter was one that he returned to again and again. Just like his Waterlilies. He captured the…
The Bathers by Paul Cézanne artsandculture.google.com The Bathers by Paul Cézanne. This painting has been with me since the early 1970s, embedded in my soul The National Gallery in London purchased this in 1964 for £500,000. (Nearly £10m in 2018’s money). Which seems like a bargain! The National Gallery paid…
The Secret Guardians The eagle eyed amongst you will spot the Pollock reference in the title. Can you spot them in the painting?
The Seagram Murals – Mark Rothko The Seagram Murals. This is the inaugural post of what I hope will be a fascinating series. A series that could last as long as I do! Nobody better to start it off than Mark Rothko. No better works to discuss then, than the Seagram…
Lest I forget…
Lest I forget… Untitled – Mark Rothko – Google Arts & Culture One of the central figures of the New York School, Mark Rothko emphatically rejected the reading of his work in merely formal, aesthetic terms. artsandculture.google.com
The Loneliness of Adam This was painted during the Summer of 2018, after a disastrous trip to Holland where I lost a brand new iPhone with all my Dutch contacts in it. I managed to salvage the trip by visits to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. I’ve never…
Patrick Heron – Tate, St. Ives – July 2018 So this was it. My long-awaited summer exhibition of one of my artistic heroes. Patrick Heron. So keen to see this, I booked it on the Monday and the Wednesday, just in case I missed anything. I didn’t. This followed on…
The Great Gig in the Sky Now this represents something of another turning point, and this is another keeper for me. I tried this on the vertical and I love the blending of the colours – even Daddy liked this! For a while now, I have been toying with the…
Rijksmuseum – Amsterdam – June 2018 The second of my major visits in Holland was to the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. My previous visit was just as spectacular. First of all, the museum houses some of the great Dutch and Flemish works of art from the Golden Era of Dutch Art – the…
Van Gogh Museum – Amsterdam – June 2018 My visit to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was long overdue. One of the items on my bouquet list, the dream came true in June 2018. This was a welcome change to my usual habit of exhibitions in the UK – Picasso…
Mist Opportunity This was painted after my disastrous trip to Amsterdam in the Summer of 2018. This is one of the few works that I have decided to keep. This will always remind me of that trip and how not go about travelling abroad. It is a distinct departure from…
Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy Picasso Hot on the heels of the Charles I exhibition – and on a beautiful Spring day – Tate Modern was the delightful backdrop for one of my most eagerly awaited exhibitions of 2018 or any year for that matter – Picasso 1932, Love,…
