Dunmanian; 6C22'12
"When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew."
I've decided I'm your average art-appreciator. I'm fascinated by a few outstanding art pieces, I listen to the guide like a good little girl, I read the description for any art piece, I pay attention to the different strokes used by different artists and am able to discern Impressionism from other styles... but after awhile, I get bored. I don't appreciate every art piece- I have common taste and am fascinated by the ones everyone else is fascinated by... and after a while, I space out when the guide is talking about van Gogh and his brother Theo and how he shot himself when he was 37 in a field because he wanted to die in someplace beautiful.
But I choose to show the cultured/ refined side of me and share with y'all the things I gained from this art museum trip. (and do some reflection now in case Ms Teo asks me what I gained from this trip during GP)
I've decided that my favourite paintings aren't only the ones that look pretty and pleasant to the eye. My favourite ones are those in which mythology/ allegory is depicted in the paintings, and when there is detail in the paintings which people commonly miss out.
For example, this artist (forgot the name. So many names were mentioned. Monet/ Millet/ Cabanel) has a trademark in his photos- he always includes flowers in the portraits he paints. The flowers hardly take centerstage so it's always easy to ignore it, but I guess that's an identifier for that dude's paintings.
And there was this painting- The Knight of the Flowers of a dude in an armour surrounded by nude females... what captivated me about the painting was how detailed it was- the canvas size was ginormous, yet the artist painstakingly considered the reflection in his armour and used a different technique to paint the background.
Lastly, there was a painting of a courtesan. What made the painting so special was that people wouldn't have noticed a small box at the top right hand corner- it depicted a mirror having her suitor's reflection on it.
That's what I love about some artists- they really pay so much attention to detail.
And I am absolutely fascinated by mythology. It seems as if the French are enamoured by the goddess, Venus and love paying tribute to her.
Okay time for my favourite paintings in the whole exhibition!
MY FAVOURITE PAINTING, The Enigma. It depicts a war-torn Paris, and it looked so tragic. When I glanced at that painting, I looked away and immediately looked back and STARED.
I realise I like paintings depicting grief and morbid things. Another one of my favourites depicted a death angel visiting a girl in her bedroom. It was too tragic, so I refused to take a photo of it. It's called The Young Girl and Death, if you're interested.
Summer Night and... another painting whose name I can't seem to find.
Presenting: the hot HOT favourites EVERYONE took a picture of.
Starry Night by van Gogh and Spring by Millet.
Other ones I liked: The Pink Dress, Birth of Venus, The Lady with the Glove (the glove was SO COOL), A Forge, The Seige of Paris (another war piece), In the Black Country, The Boy with the Cat (a nude, but the dude is cute), Dancers Climbing the Stairs
The ones I disliked: Landscape with Green Trees, War (by Henry Rosseau)
I think the exhibition was pretty small-scale :( I'd have loved to see other paintings!
Yes I know it's very unclassy of me to use layman terms to depict what I enjoyed (some people would say stuff like "I like the way he used light to capture the essence of the painting").
And a funny thing happened- I told Jereld in the morning that I'd want to "see a rainbow this year, because I didn't see any rainbows last year". Guess what I saw this evening?