Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Seurat
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Work, work, work - not to mention a cold dark drizzly day outside - and the 'bug' that is making me feel even more exhausted than usual at this time of year (but never mind - this time next year I shall be retired, hurrah!). Today is the birthday (in 1859) of the great Georges Seurat, who died far too young - and what more cheering, warming and calming sight than that of his Bathers At Asnieres, which hangs in the National Gallery? The critic Paul Alexis described it as 'faux Puvis de Chavannes'. At the risk of sounding like Oscar Wilde, I'd say that much of Puvis de Chavannes' output was faux Puvis de Chavannes.
A hedonic resource
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About Me
- Nige
- Nige, who, like Mr Kenneth Horne, prefers to remain anonymous, was also a founder blogger of The Dabbler and a co-blogger on the Bryan Appleyard Thought Experiments blog. He is the sole blogger on this one, and his principal aim is to share various of life's pleasures. These tend to relate to books, art, poems, butterflies, birds, churches, music, walking, weather, drink, etc, with occasional references to the passing scene. His book, The Mother of Beauty: On the Golden Age of English Church Monuments, and Other Matters of Life and Death, is available on Amazon or direct from the author.
Have you heard of or seen the exhausting, remarkable film "National Gallery"? What a collection of treasures you have. In the lobby, waiting to go in, another film-goer said that the British National Gallery is better than our American one because "Mellon [who started our collection] was a prude". I suspect it was more because you Brits got an earlier start.
ReplyDeleteSusan
Possibly my favourite picture. I often pop in to the National Gallery to feast my eyes on it and we have a large print in our 'family room'. I made a point of showing Charlotte the original when I took her to London but 5 year olds are the most appalling philistines.
ReplyDeleteSusan - if you want more on the National Gallery, the Dabblers, including Nige, have written plenty - see our 'National Treasures' series.
Yes indeed, one of my favourites too - and the Nat Gall my favourite gallery in England by a long chalk. Such a manageable size for a national collection...
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the excellent link -- I have bookmarked it to peruse at leisure. Susan
ReplyDelete