On June 3, we only had one item on our agenda: the National Gallery. The outside of the building is currently being restored but the gallery itself is open to the public (for free!). There were so many paintings to see in various rooms. I tried to take some time to truly “appreciate” some of the art, lingering to take in all the details, but was still only in the museum for about an hour. It was a nice walk from the hotel to the gallery, which sits on Trafalgar Square. On the way, we saw the theatre where Six! plays. I cannot wait to see it later this month.
There is currently an interesting exhibit called “My Reality is Different” at the gallery. The exhibit is a video created by Nalini Malani, the first National Gallery Contemporary Fellow. For the video, Malani has taken paintings from the National Gallery and the Holburne Museum in Bath and animated them so that viewers will hopefully see them in a new life. The video includes a voiceover by a friend of Malani who is portraying the Greek prophetess, Cassandra. The walls leading into the room where the video is viewed had excerpts of the narration. “Who will find a voice again, and when?” is the excerpt that stuck out to me the most.
Despite not spending an excessive amount of time at the gallery, I still saw some amazing pieces of art. There were a handful of van Gogh’s works including on of the many sunflower paintings he did. The gallery also has some Monets, just to mention two of the most recognizable artists in the vast collection.
Most of the paintings can be put in one of four boxes: Christian themes, Greek/Roman mythology, portraits, and landscapes; of course there is some still life painting thrown in for good measure. A lot of the art can also be considered realism. There is not much question of what any of the artwork is actually portraying.
The first piece that truly caught my eye was “The Rape of Europa” painted between 1637 and 1639 by Guido Reni (Europa is one of the many women from Greek mythology who caught the eye of Zeus. To “get it up” with Europa, Zeus transformed himself into a bull and transported Europa from her home in Asia Minor. And yes, Europe is names for Europa.).
For academic purposes, I will also be looking at Reni’s “Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom” which was painted roughly twenty years prior. At their core, both the paintings have similar subject matter. Mythology and Biblical paintings are often seen as adjacent when in comes to subject. Both paintings are also oil on canvas (I’m not sure if I saw any paintings that are not oil on canvas). Reni employs the same style for fabric in both paintings. This is most apparent looking at Europa and the daughter on Lot’s right, particularly since this daughter is draped in a similar orange to Europa. I was surprised to see how far apart these two paintings were created as the skill and stylistic choices are so similar. A strong contrast between the two artworks is that “The Rape of Europa” is much brighter than the scene from Genesis. The scene from Greek mythology is set against a bright blue sky with a sweet looking cherub (I’m assuming Cupid since: bow and arrow) almost hanging there translucently. Europa herself is clothed in bright pink and orange. Meanwhile, Lot and his daughters are placed on a simple black backdrop in muted tones. It is amazing how color theory works because it seems like the orange in the two paintings is the same yet due to their surrounding colors they take on different hues. It is also how neither painting seems flat, the people seem separate from the background, yet the rippling water in “The Rape of Europa” does not seem to have movement.
After the art gallery, I headed back to my accommodations for a while before heading to my first afternoon tea! At the British Museum, I had strawberry & mango tea and a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam which was very good. I will have to go back to the museum for actual perusal of the treasures which lie there.
Then June 4 for my free day, I saw my seventh play of the trip: Wicked. I had very much been looking forward to the chance to see the acclaimed and popular musical. It was a beautiful show technically with lots of different set pieces and wonderful visual effects and lighting. It was a fun story and I was surprised that it was not just a prequel but rewrote the classic Wizard of Oz story in the second act. I will say that the songs I liked best were the breakouts from the musical which I had heard beforehand, but all around it has an amazing soundtrack. I would definitely say that Wicked is a musical that everyone should see once in their lives if they like theatre.
Theatre in London U of A 