Exhibitions

2nd May 2019 Tate Britain Ey Exhibition Van Gogh and Britain

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

In this exhibition the idea was to show how Van Gogh life in Britain had influenced his work. Vincent Van Gogh spent nearly three years in England from 1873 to 1876.

The first part of the exhibition looks at the influences that Van Gogh took from these years in England. He loved Charles Dickens, the newspaper called ‘The Graphic’ the black and white prints that he collected and paintings in Art galleries such as the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He would remember the art that he saw, and the images all of his life and some of the work that he produced later in his life would reflect this.

It was interesting to see that in this exhibition the possible references for some of his work displayed beside the works themselves.

Own photograph taken at the exhibition 02/05/2019

For instance this painting ‘The Avenue at Middelharnis’ by Meindert Hobbema (1668-1709). Van Gogh was influenced by the perspective of trees by this Dutch artist which he saw in the National Gallery in London. He later produced several works using the perspective of the trees that are shown here.

(Own photograph from the exhibition 02/05/2019)

‘Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Nuenen’ painted in October 1884.

Van Gogh painted this, and another similar painting two months after telling his brother Theo about seeing Hobbema’s ‘The Avenue at Middelharnis’ in London.

(Own photograph from the exhibition 02/05/2019)

Van Gogh collected what were referred to as ‘black and whites’, he collected around 200 and used these in his work because of the use of the light in them. This image by Gustave Dore (1832-1883) shows the dark industrial look of England that Van Gogh enjoyed found interesting and used in his work. His painting ‘prisoners exercising’ painted in 1890 showed this dark side of England. He used pictures that he found in the newspaper ‘Graphic’ which also showed this gloomy dark side of

English life.

(Own photograph from the exhibition 02/05/2019)

This painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) is called ‘Nocturne Grey and Gold Westminster Bridge).

Own photograph of exhibition (02/05/2019)

This painting produced in September 1888 ‘Starry night over the Rhône’ has similar lighting as the James Abbott McNeill Whistler above so it is possible to see how the work may have influenced Van Gogh.

The following three Paintings were done at different times but follow the same theme and it is possible to see how Van Gogh style changed

(Own Photograph from exhibition 02/05/2019)

‘Worn out’ October 1881

‘At Eternity’s Gate’ 1882

Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) 1890

This shows the way that Van Gogh returned to subjects over time and improved his work and style.

The next part of the Exhibition focused on the How Van Gogh work was viewed after his death in 1890 and how his work influenced artists.

(Own photograph from the exhibition 02/05/2019)

One room was filled with paintings of flowers and sunflowers which previously had been viewed as feminine, but Van Gogh showed how they could have structure and this revived the use of flowers as a subject.

I found this exhibition really helpful, I had not realised how important the images that you see are, and how these images can be used to further your own work. I have always known that this is important to research artist, but this really reinforced to me how this can impact on your studies.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastidas (1863-1923)

National Gallery – Spanish Master of Light 25/04/2019

This exhibition really shows how important light is and how the use of this makes more exciting and realistic work.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/Sorolla

https://www.joaquin-sorolla-y-bastida.org/My-Wife-And-Daughters-In-The-Garden.html (accessed 02/05/2019)

Photography was not permitted at this exhibition, so I am only including this image, where the light has been captured particularly well. I feel that I learned a lot about light from this exhibition, and particularly how light changes colours. For instance the dresses above, which we know are white but the light makes them contain blue, beige, yellow, grey and even green. This I found in all of his pictures, the sheer amount of colours used was astounding, this was to show light at its best.

Sea Star at the National Gallery by Sean Scully (b1945) 25/04/2019

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/sea-star-sean-scully-at-the-

national-gallery

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-evening-star

This exhibition contains a group of paintings based on the Joseph Mallord William Turner ( 1775 – 1851) painting ‘The Evening Star’ above. This is sheer colour, the image broken down to its elements and portrayed on huge canvases, two on each side of the room with a corridor in the middle where the Turner painting can be viewed. This arrangement allows the viewer to see all the paintings together and get a sense of the extraction of colour that Scully has used to portray the atmosphere described by Turner.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/press-and-media/press-releases/sea-star-sean-scully-at-the-national-gallery (accessed 02/05/2019)

Here is one of the paintings featured which really show this atmospheric use of colour.

Interestingly in this exhibition was included the work that Sean Scully did on Van Gogh’s chair. Sean Scully was fascinated with this painting and visited it regularly at the National Gallery and produced the painting at below from his observation of it.