The art exhibition that we went to because there was nothing else to do
13/12/2009 2 Comments
The National Gallery of Australia is hosting Masterpieces from Paris – a collection of Post-Impressionism from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. The exhibition boasts the most extraordinary collection of French art to come to Australia (although I don’t think Australia got the best paintings that the museum owned), and showcases paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Pissaro etc.
Phew, I’ve already used more foreign words than I would care to admit in the previous paragraph. The truth is that neither of us are art enthusiasts, nor do we know much about art. But it was a restless Sunday afternoon, and there was nothing else to do, so we decided to go to the exhibition and pretend to be knowledgeable in this Post-Impressionism business.
The exhibition was divided into six rooms, with names that didn’t mean much to me (neo-impressionism, after impressionism, symbolism, decoration etc). There were perhaps a hundred or so paintings. I am extremely proud of myself to have recognised two of them by sight – Van Gogh’s Starry Night and his Bedroom in Arles – but perhaps anyone would have known what they were! I liked the Bedroom so much that I bought the A3 print (a very reasonable $9.95) from the gallery shop, not because I want to pretend to be an art lover but because I actually really like it.
The painting is of a small and neat bedroom, with very simple furnishings that somehow doesn’t seem so simple under Van Gogh’s brush. I guess it appeals to my like for orderliness with a bit of quirk thrown in. It now sits prettily in the second bedroom.