"It took me a while to understand my waterlilies." -CM
Monet's grown on me over the years. To the extent that he registered at all, I used to find his paintings all too wispy, pretty, exemplified by the idea that his most emblematic subject was, of all things, waterlilies. But time has brought a different perspective, and this exhibition was a timely chance to see a large collection of his work. It was good, of course; my favourites tended to be the particularly colourfully luminous, dream-lit ones from the 1880s (flowers, fields, cliffs, beaches), and there were also a couple of late-period ones that struck me in quite a different way (a blurry 1919-20 "Wisteria" and poignant 1925-6 "Roses"). Which isn't to say that some of the waterlilies, which of course made up a large part of the exhibition, glowing and vivid, weren't also memorable.
Anyway, circumstances weren't ideal as I was fairly groggy and the gallery was very busy - possibly staggering in mid morning on a Saturday wasn't the smartest in that respect - which may partly explain why my experience of all this wasn't deeper. But I expect to go again, so there'll be at least one more go at it.
Monet's grown on me over the years. To the extent that he registered at all, I used to find his paintings all too wispy, pretty, exemplified by the idea that his most emblematic subject was, of all things, waterlilies. But time has brought a different perspective, and this exhibition was a timely chance to see a large collection of his work. It was good, of course; my favourites tended to be the particularly colourfully luminous, dream-lit ones from the 1880s (flowers, fields, cliffs, beaches), and there were also a couple of late-period ones that struck me in quite a different way (a blurry 1919-20 "Wisteria" and poignant 1925-6 "Roses"). Which isn't to say that some of the waterlilies, which of course made up a large part of the exhibition, glowing and vivid, weren't also memorable.
Anyway, circumstances weren't ideal as I was fairly groggy and the gallery was very busy - possibly staggering in mid morning on a Saturday wasn't the smartest in that respect - which may partly explain why my experience of all this wasn't deeper. But I expect to go again, so there'll be at least one more go at it.
