Monday 7 December 2009

Treasures of the Musee d'Orsay at the NGA

To the NGA for a members (yes we're fully signed up supporters) view of their new exhibition of paintings from the Musee d'Orsay.

As always there were drinks - a decent dry white and an Australian champagne - and canape's while standing around chatting in the Sculpture Garden. As always it was an interesting cross section of society - those who were there to be seen and be seen, those who were there for the art and those who were there because their friends were. Dress styles ranged from the artistic with frightening lipstick or beards - according to gender - to the amazingly normal.

Despite the inherent pretentiousness the exhibition was rather good - I'd actually say better - for being smaller and more tightly picked - than the collection as exhibited in Paris last July.

A few nice Van Gogh's showing how his techniques in Arles was alternately frentic or controlled, a few Pisarro's, Gaugin from both his Breton and South Pacific periods, some nice little Seurat pointillist sketches, a Monet pretending to be a Turner and some paintings by Vuillard and Emile Bernard that I hadn't seen before. The Bernard had the same economy of line that I like in some 1920's and 30's posters - just line and colour.

Definitely worth a visit.

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