It’s like meeting up with old friends
Whenever I go to London, I almost always find myself walking into the National Gallery. Perhaps it’s because some of my earliest connections with art were made there, that I find it almost impossible not to return whenever I am nearby. The museum sits at the top of Trafalgar Square with its temple-like columns and grand portico entrance, achieving a sort of permanence that so much of modern life lacks. Perhaps that is part of the attraction too.
Here, I’ve chosen three works that I always try to catch up with, of the many thousands that make up the gallery’s…
A painter whose technique influenced a generation
The art of Paul Cézanne had an enormous influence on the generation of artists that followed him, most especially Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, an influence that would ultimately change the course of Western art.
Other artists were just as indebted. Henri Matisse referred to Cézanne as “the father of us all,” whilst to Paul Klee he was, “the teacher par excellence.”
Because of this influence, certain phrases have become connected with Paul Cézanne: a bridge between Impressionism and Modernism, the forefather of Cubism. …
A beautiful and mysterious depiction of a captive bird
We look up. Slightly above eye-level we see an exotic looking bird perched on a feeder-box. The bird has lemon-yellow and cherry-red highlights, and is tethered to the feeder by a fine metal chain. It has some chance of movement, for the length of the chain is perhaps twice the height of the bird, and moreover its loop is allowed to slide left and right along the metal bar.
We can begin to imagine the bird taking flight, if only momentarily. …
Artworks that opened up new ways of experiencing the world
Sometimes a painting or a sculpture breaks through your conscious mind and leaves an impression that last for years, perhaps even a lifetime. I’ve chosen five paintings that had that effect on me and ultimately changed the way I look at art. Each painting has its own special qualities, but what they all have in common is that they opened my eyes to what art can be: not simply pictures but new possible ways of experiencing the world.
Twittering Machine by Paul Klee (1922)
Useful tips for approaching a work of art
My first piece of advice when looking at a work of art is always this: give yourself time to look. Works of art are real objects — most of the time — with a real size, shape, texture and composition. These are qualities that can be discovered by close attention, and sometimes a little research, on behalf of the viewer. The three qualities I’m going to talk about here are size, composition and style.
Size matters
We are accustomed to looking large objects and finding grandeur in them. A large artwork will naturally strike us as more bold, perhaps more expressive, almost…
How this painting treads a fine line between eroticism and chastity
Works of art sometimes have an extraordinary ability to be many things at once. This painting, of the mythological figure Danaë, is replete with sensual allusions whilst at the same time representing the virtues of chastity. In this apparent contradiction, several fascinating aspects arise.
The story of Danaë began with a prophecy. As told by Apollodorus (c. 1st century B.C.) and later by Ovid in his Metamorphosis, Danaë was the daughter of Acrisius, the king of Argos. It was foretold that the king would be killed by his daughter’s child. In order to thwart the prophecy, the king locked Danaë…
Feeling first, analysis second
Why do we think that looking at art is difficult? Is it because art has an aura of mystery or even deliberate complexity?
Certainly, some instances of contemporary art can seem obscure and impenetrable. Traditional art can appear difficult in other ways: old paintings with antique subjects and symbols that appear to require specialist knowledge to interpret.
In this way, art can feel beguiling. Faced with objects we have trouble in reading, we tend to look for conventional hallmarks of quality as obvious signposts to meaning. If traditional art can be enjoyed then it tends to be for the technical…
Parisian nightlife gloriously captured
This scene shows a group of friends in the bar of the Moulin Rouge. The figures socialise against a backdrop of preening actresses and shimmering mirrors. As a regular visitor to one of the most famous cabaret establishments in Paris, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this depiction of his favourite nighttime spot with a tender eye for both the familiar and the strange.
Let’s begin by exploring the composition because it helps us to see how the painting functions, how it draws the viewer in and makes us part of its world.
Let your gaze pass over the image and notice…
Seduction and death in this dangerous masterpiece
Her face is captured in a moment of rapture. Her eyes are half-closed, her lips are gently parting. In her hands she holds the severed head of her enemy and appears almost to flinch at the satisfaction of her victory, with her right eye teetering on the edge of sensual excess.
The subject of this painting by Gustav Klimt is the tale of Judith and Holofernes, as told in the Old Testament and later elaborated on among apocryphal texts.
Judith was a beautiful and wealthy widow from the Jewish city of Bethulia. Desperately under siege from the Assyrian army, the…
Learning to draw (with Van Gogh)
When I was a young art student, I signed up to a semester of life drawing classes. We were to spend our time sketching the contours of a nude model.
Just as you see in films or on TV, the disrobed figure sits in the centre of a room with a circle of wooden easels surrounding them. Behind the easels, a band of well-meaning artists put pencils to paper, or drag charcoal blocks or dab Indian ink or smudge oil pastels, and try as best they can to render an accurate likeness of the model in front of them.
Drawing…
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