The other day I went and visited the Tate Modern Art Museum in Southwark, London. Which is directly across the river from St. Paul’s Cathedral. The first thing I learned when entering the museum was that it used to be the Bankside Power Station. It generated electricity from 1891 to 1981. Thirteen years later, Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron were assigned to convert the building into the Tate Modern Art Museum. The Tate Modern Art Museum holds over 70,000 modern and contemporary artworks ranging from paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and video art. Some artwork dates to more than 100 years ago. There are many popular artists in the Tate Modern Art Museum such as: Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein
I prefer impressionism, naturalism, and realism art styles and I am not the biggest fan of modern and contemporary art styles. So, I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy my time at the museum or see any pieces of artwork that I would like. However, I was pleasantly surprised. There were actually a few pieces of modern artwork that caught my attention. One of those pieces of artwork was a painting called The Bowl of Milk, by French artist Pierre Bonnard. Bonnard painted this work in the south of France. He moved there during World War I with his wife Marthe de Meligny (which is the woman in the painting) and their black cat. The detailed background, the beautiful colors, and the slight physical resemblance that Meligny and I had, are some of the reasons why this work caught my attention. Another reason why this painting caught my attention is the mystery of it. Meligny’s face is hidden in the shadows, and you don’t know what emotion she is feeling. Is she sad, frustrated, or content? You don’t really know. The emotion that you think she is feeling is your own interpretation. I liked the freedom of choosing the atmosphere of the painting.
Another piece of modern artwork that I liked was a painting called Man with a Newspaper by Belgian artist Rene Magritte. Magritte created this painting in 1928 during the time he lived in Paris, France. The reason why I like this painting is again because of the mystery. The man with the newspaper is only there for one panel of the painting. Then, he disappears. Did something happen to the man? We don’t know. We get to create our own theory of what happened or, if anything happened to the man. My interpretation is that the man did pass away. My theory could have been confirmed if the flowers on the windowsill began to wilt more and more in each panel. However, the flowers remained perfectly healthy in each panel. It will forever remain a mystery of what or if anything happened to the man with the newspaper.
The day before visiting the museum, I got the chance to see the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set in Athens, Greece, and it is about a boy named Lysander and a girl named Hermia who escape into the woods to escape the Athenian law and marry one another. However, their plans get interrupted when Demetrius, the man Hermia doesn’t love but has to marry, follows them into the woods along with Helena. Hermia’s friend who told Demetrius about their plan. Helena is in love with Demetrius and tries to win his affection throughout the play. Another group that journeys into the woods are the Rude Mechanicals. Who are trying to find a place to practice their play for the King and Queen of Athens’ wedding. Both groups find themselves being manipulated by Puck and her Fairy King Oberon. I thought the acting of this production was phenomenal. Every emotion seemed so genuine. The artistic director who played Puck was hilarious, but they also made my skin crawl. No puck has ever freaked me out as much as this Puck did. And I loved it. The only thing that I didn’t like about this production was the costumes. In my opinion, it would have been nice if only the fairies wore the vibrant costumes in order to represent the colorful fairy world. Rather than almost everyone wearing bright costumes. I would think that the earthly world would be duller than the fairy world and the four lovers’ costumes would represent that. Other than my dislike of the costumes, I enjoyed this show, and I’m glad I got to experience it in Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.
Theatre in London U of A 