What A Day!

Well, Canberra on Saturday was great - although I think I'm a bit past the jetsetting lifestyle.

A 5.30am flight out of Brisbane, a day of walking, standing and crowds, a bit of anxiety over timeframes and a long, dark drive home from the airport had me falling asleep on the couch about 9.30pm!

Not that it wasn't totally worth it! Look at this face...

While we didn't get time to visit here...

Or here...

Or here...

We did see them from a distance, while we had a lovely walk from the city side of Lake Burley Griffin to the gallery, across the Commonwealth Bridge.

 We really enjoyed the lack of humidity and the cool breeze. And it was fine!

 What we did get to see at the exhibition (when we eventually got to the front of the reeeeeeeaaaaaly long queue) was this...

                                                                photo from www.canvaz.com

and this...

                                                                                      photo from www.janeresture.com
and this...

                                                                                    photo from Musée d'Orsay, Paris

and not to mention, this...

                                                                photo from www.allmonet.com

 It was such a revelation to see these in the flesh (or is that 'in the paint'?). Almost every work was a different size to what I expected (some were huge!) and the shiny silkiness of the oil paint and the visible brush strokes were just so different to seeing prints or photos. 

One of my absolute favourites was this Van Gogh...

                                            http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/MASTERPIECESfromPARIS

 The paint was so thick and textured, the colours so vivid! The perspective is so unusual - when you stand in front of it, it seems to come towards you from the top. I was quite taken aback by a painting having such an unexpected impact. 

It was also really interesting to see other visitors looking at the works. The looks of surprise, the eyes squinting at the pointilist ones, the steps back to get a better view - people watching at it's best! (Not to mention some of the best art wank 'amateur art critic' conversations ever overheard. Bahahaha!)

We had just enough time to see a few other sections of the permanent collection at the National Gallery and to check out the shop for a few souvenirs (suffice it to say that I now have a Cezanne still life ready to hang in my kitchen!) before heading back to the airport.

It was the best birthday gift I have had for ages! Thanks D, and to my Mum and sister for sharing the adventure with me. 


P.S. “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
Henry Ward Beecher