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sharplittleteethWe saw the Caravaggio exhibition on Sunday.
High profile exhibitions like this are funny creatures. People cluster close to the walls, glancing at the paintings, then hunching down to read the tiny explanatory text. Because the text is so small, it almost becomes more important than the paintings. A painting is just a painting, after all, but the text offers history, context, explanation. So people hunch over the texts, searching for understanding.
Well, I know I did. Look at the painting. Think so this is Caravaggio, huh? I guess it's nice. Read the text to - if I may be so crude - learn what the fuss is all about.
Half an hour of that and my head ached and all the paintings started to blur.
It's only when I stood back to view the paintings from a distance that the reason for all the fuss became obvious.
The Caravaggios glow.
No reproduction can do them justice. All you see in books are pretty pictures, painted well. But stand several metres back from the real thing, and they come alive. The effect is startling. The light glinting off the armour in Crowning with thorns. The petulant gaze of St John the Baptist in the wilderness.
Perhaps most interesting was Boy bitten by a lizard. Two version of the painting hung side by side. Up close, the earlier version is delicate and beautiful, while the later one looks rough, almost unfinished. But step back, and the early version dissolves into a cloudy blur, while the later blooms, bold and passionate and striking.
We bought tickets to the Guy Bourdin exhibition, too. But it was late afternoon when we got to the gallery, and it was almost closing time by the time we finished with Caravaggio. So we will be back next week.
High profile exhibitions like this are funny creatures. People cluster close to the walls, glancing at the paintings, then hunching down to read the tiny explanatory text. Because the text is so small, it almost becomes more important than the paintings. A painting is just a painting, after all, but the text offers history, context, explanation. So people hunch over the texts, searching for understanding.
Well, I know I did. Look at the painting. Think so this is Caravaggio, huh? I guess it's nice. Read the text to - if I may be so crude - learn what the fuss is all about.
Half an hour of that and my head ached and all the paintings started to blur.
It's only when I stood back to view the paintings from a distance that the reason for all the fuss became obvious.
The Caravaggios glow.
No reproduction can do them justice. All you see in books are pretty pictures, painted well. But stand several metres back from the real thing, and they come alive. The effect is startling. The light glinting off the armour in Crowning with thorns. The petulant gaze of St John the Baptist in the wilderness.
Perhaps most interesting was Boy bitten by a lizard. Two version of the painting hung side by side. Up close, the earlier version is delicate and beautiful, while the later one looks rough, almost unfinished. But step back, and the early version dissolves into a cloudy blur, while the later blooms, bold and passionate and striking.
We bought tickets to the Guy Bourdin exhibition, too. But it was late afternoon when we got to the gallery, and it was almost closing time by the time we finished with Caravaggio. So we will be back next week.
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Date: 2004-05-25 12:48 am (UTC)thats me, in a room full of girls and girly shit .. what an odd thought
no subject
Date: 2004-05-25 05:09 pm (UTC)Old Masters rock.
Speaking of old masters....get my email? Coming this Sunday?