Travels With Picasso

Yesterday was a long day at the National Gallery. Half the day was spent in a special show of Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure. This show features Vermeer and other Dutch artists’ depictions of music in the lives of men and women of the time. I’ve never seen so many women sitting at keyboards! The paintings are stunningly beautiful, the curation is superb, and the information almost overwhelming. Having never been a huge fan of Dutch masters, I had few expectations. However, the staff at The National Gallery have put together a show that captures my imagination and fuels my interest. The last room of the show features a scientific analysis of the four Vermeer paintings in the show. Through scanning, analysis of chips, expert analysis, etc. they dissect Vermeer’s materials and techniques. Wow!

The second half of the day was spent in the 19th century, leaning slightly into the first decade of the 20th century. Turner, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, and many many more. Once more Turner rises to the top for me. However, two paintings particularly interested me. Degas painted a sepia-toned copy of a photograph of a famous woman…and I do mean copied. Princess Pauline de Metternich looks like a photograph, not at all his usual style. I would like to think he did it just to show us all that he could paint realistically if he so chose. The detail is exquisite. He even went so far as to copy the places where the camera failed to focus! This follows our attendance two years ago at an exhibit in London of Degas and the Dance that featured his curiosity and experimentation with photography. The link above gives a better view than this tiny one, which is all the museum allows me to download.

Another painting that Jean and I both wowed over was a very small Theodore Rousseau painting. Unfortunately the museum does not allow photography and their tiny photo does not do it justice. Sunset in Auvergne is one of the most dramatic paintings I’ve ever seen. Click the link to see a slightly larger version on the museum’s web page.

London and in fact England as a whole is hot. Although temps are only around 90F, this is not to be taken lightly in a country that sees this heat perhaps less than our Seattle home. Today we learned via the newspaper that 796 people have died from the heat in the last 10 days! These are not people used to sunblock, drinking lots of fluids, and staying out of the noonday sun.

Despite the sun and heat today we decided to go on one of the double decker bus tours. Of course we sat in the top in the sun! I did this two years ago in May and Jean wanted to try it as an overview of the city. I failed to account for the fact that May is, well, May and July is tourist season. The traffic was terrible. In May I did the entire tour in about 2 1/2 hours. Today we spent about 5 1/2 hours on the bus. However, it is a great way to get oriented to London and the sights to be seen. We’ve added a few to our agenda as a result.

We broke the day into two halves by stopping midway in the tour to take in the Courtauld Gallery, part of the Courtauld Institute of Art in Somerset House. This institute is one of the foremost institutions in the world for art history and restoration. The gallery’s collection is small, but well worth a visit any time you are in London. In addition to many old favorites that we had seen previously, a Gauguin exhibit is currently featured. I have not included any photos of the artwork because my photos don’t do them justice. Renoir, Manet, Monet, Seurot, Gauguin, Rodin, Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Toulouse Lautrec, and many others are represented. My photos will provide me with inspiration on grey winter days in my Seattle studio. A little lunch in the museum’s small cafe, a stop for tea after the art, and we continued our bus tour.

London can be displayed in many ways. People are a wonderful study in this most cosmopolitan of cities. There may be no other city in the world where so many languages can be heard on each street corner. Public art abounds with sculptures and other public art around every corner. It was impossible to photograph all of them as we drove around. I love spying pubs with their unique names and decorations. (Our studio apartment about a mile from The Churchill, dedicated to the Prime Minister himself.) However, London to me means architecture. This city takes design of buildings and public spaces quite seriously. From ancient buildings to those just under construction London displays art, whimsy, beauty, and strength. Therefore, I put together a small show of some architectural highlights of the day.

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