"My main comment is that those who do not read the coverage of Pippa Middleton are condemned to repeat it." It's asides like this that keep me coming back.
My first two hours in Paris for the first time, I got off the plane and took a train to the Musée d'Orsay. Jet lagged I wandered around the alcoves and turned a corner and saw the origin of the world. It punched me in my soul like a drug seeing it in person. I teared up. I’m not even gay.
I felt the same way wandering round the eclectic Kuntsmuseum in Basel, and happening upon Hans Holbein's Dead Christ in His Tomb. If you don't know it, I urge you to google it in its largest form. I found this review which replicates my feelings:
"This is a spectacularly transfixing painting that depicts the dead Christ in a manner unlike any I have ever seen. The depiction of the Son of God as nothing more than putrefying flesh has excited some people to call it blasphemous. Fyodor Doetoevksy was captivated by this painting which he saw when living in Switzerland to avoid creditors in Russia. In his novel The Idiot the principal character Prince Myshkin, who is a Christlike figure, states after seeing this painting that it has the power to make the viewer lose his faith. Words cannot describe the power of this painting."
Isn’t it wonderful when this happens? Like there is definitely *something* that great paintings have, it’s not just the weight of their reputation. I felt it in the Prado with the Goya basement. And the Vermeers at the National Gallery are just obviously more compelling than the similar compositions around them.
My teared up moment, was my first visit to the National Gallery Canberra, turning around in the main space to see Pollock's Blue Poles. I sat down quickly just to soak it all up. The dancing poles in all the colours made me smile. It made me so happy I couldn't be angry at the newspapers which printed B&W photos to show the waste of money by a reforming labour government.
I know the Louvre is about to move the Mona Lisa to another location, but I found something terribly sad about the utter lack of interest that visitors show to any of the stunning Veroneses and Titians hanging in the room - so I pointedly turned my back on Lisa and looked at the others, much to the confusion of the Americans jostling to take photos of the da Vinci with their iPads from 30 feet away...
We study these things in books for years, then to finally see them live in front of you? It’s hard to describe. Art History classes are the best slow burn life experience a student could have.
A few years ago I was in Amsterdam, and went to see the Van Gogh museum. They had a whole special exhibition on about The Potato Eaters. Being entirely unfamiliar with the painting, I went in. After an entire floor of sketches and studies and tiny details of the painting and placards about the context of how he'd come to paint it, we finally reached the Holy of Holies, the room in which the painting itself was displayed. To say that we were stoked to see some peasants eating a potato would be a wild understatement. At last we would see the whole thing at once! And there we saw...
... a sign saying "The Potato Eaters is currently on loan to a museum in Copenhagen. Please come back later!"
They couldn't even have put up a poster from the gift shop?
The housing problem cannot be solved because the people who own houses are the most powerful people in the country. The best solution available is to reduce the price of housing by empowering Local Government to build social housing, taxing the profit of sales of housing by private individuals and confiscating all housing left vacant for more than six months without a proper cause, ie subject to probate or otherwise disputed last will.
You only dislike that early van Gogh so much because the woman second left looks like you ;)
The point of this early work is that he was teaching *himself*. He was figuring everything out for himself. That’s the basis for the blazing originality and individualism of his utterly transcendent late work, so let’s be thankful for it. I too revelled in that beautifully curated National Gallery show.
Yep, they were in essence his mostly self taught "student" work, It's clear in the awkwardness of some of his early drawings that he initially struggled . Stiff figures, short arms and chimp like faces. He's in his early 30s not in his teens where skill has gentle time to develop. Not all "genius" emerges early fully formed, if ever. (eg: see Cezanne's early work compared to late.) Also painting in mostly one colour is a common exercise to limit the palette so as to concentrate on the handling of paint and tone. The reason the Potato Eaters is "bad" in comparison is mostly because the drawing isn't strong enough at that point. He had a lot of catching up to do but we wouldn't be talking about him if he hadn't done just that.
The scam industrial complex is huge. AARP recently quoted a figure of 15% of people polled reporting that they or someone they are close to havng been recently scammed, which I would guess is an underestimate. I wish there were more safeguards within the financial industry, as most victims are not wealthy. However it would require global cooperation, so sadly unlikely to happen.
Completely agree re. Van Gogh - I saw the recent exhibition at my local cinema, which had the advantage of being able to look at the picture up close, without the crowds, while the narrator told you its story, and the interviews with the curators were enlightening. Agree, too, re. housing, and have often wondered, sometimes on SM, why Britain can’t follow Denmark, New Zealand & now also Australia’s example by making property speculation by foreign investors exceedingly hard. I suppose the powers that be have long been happy to flog anything and everything to the highest bidder and see giving priority to people born or settled in Britain as “nationalist” -well, Denmark has done precisely that for years.
Both covers are great but the Dodo one is properly fantastic!
"My main comment is that those who do not read the coverage of Pippa Middleton are condemned to repeat it." It's asides like this that keep me coming back.
I am so firmly inside the Venn diagram of people who subscribe to you and to the Spike. Love you both!
The Dodo is called Peter. Most flightless birds are called Peter. All seagulls are called Emma. All other birds choose their own name.
Jonathan seagull would like to have a word.
My first two hours in Paris for the first time, I got off the plane and took a train to the Musée d'Orsay. Jet lagged I wandered around the alcoves and turned a corner and saw the origin of the world. It punched me in my soul like a drug seeing it in person. I teared up. I’m not even gay.
I felt the same way wandering round the eclectic Kuntsmuseum in Basel, and happening upon Hans Holbein's Dead Christ in His Tomb. If you don't know it, I urge you to google it in its largest form. I found this review which replicates my feelings:
"This is a spectacularly transfixing painting that depicts the dead Christ in a manner unlike any I have ever seen. The depiction of the Son of God as nothing more than putrefying flesh has excited some people to call it blasphemous. Fyodor Doetoevksy was captivated by this painting which he saw when living in Switzerland to avoid creditors in Russia. In his novel The Idiot the principal character Prince Myshkin, who is a Christlike figure, states after seeing this painting that it has the power to make the viewer lose his faith. Words cannot describe the power of this painting."
Isn’t it wonderful when this happens? Like there is definitely *something* that great paintings have, it’s not just the weight of their reputation. I felt it in the Prado with the Goya basement. And the Vermeers at the National Gallery are just obviously more compelling than the similar compositions around them.
My teared up moment, was my first visit to the National Gallery Canberra, turning around in the main space to see Pollock's Blue Poles. I sat down quickly just to soak it all up. The dancing poles in all the colours made me smile. It made me so happy I couldn't be angry at the newspapers which printed B&W photos to show the waste of money by a reforming labour government.
I know the Louvre is about to move the Mona Lisa to another location, but I found something terribly sad about the utter lack of interest that visitors show to any of the stunning Veroneses and Titians hanging in the room - so I pointedly turned my back on Lisa and looked at the others, much to the confusion of the Americans jostling to take photos of the da Vinci with their iPads from 30 feet away...
We study these things in books for years, then to finally see them live in front of you? It’s hard to describe. Art History classes are the best slow burn life experience a student could have.
Dodo's name has got to be Snaffleton Brophy-St. George III
I could imagine someone called ‘Dodo’ in a Wodehouse novel.
1) Possible Dodo name: Spurious George.
2) Regarding Hughes, have you read his Culture of Complaint, published in … 1993?(!) It anticipates today’s insanity to a shocking degree.
I have not! I'm reading Shock of the New, which I'm enjoying a lot.
A few years ago I was in Amsterdam, and went to see the Van Gogh museum. They had a whole special exhibition on about The Potato Eaters. Being entirely unfamiliar with the painting, I went in. After an entire floor of sketches and studies and tiny details of the painting and placards about the context of how he'd come to paint it, we finally reached the Holy of Holies, the room in which the painting itself was displayed. To say that we were stoked to see some peasants eating a potato would be a wild understatement. At last we would see the whole thing at once! And there we saw...
... a sign saying "The Potato Eaters is currently on loan to a museum in Copenhagen. Please come back later!"
They couldn't even have put up a poster from the gift shop?
They should have put out some actual potatoes.
Love the dodo but much prefer the UK subtitle.
The housing problem cannot be solved because the people who own houses are the most powerful people in the country. The best solution available is to reduce the price of housing by empowering Local Government to build social housing, taxing the profit of sales of housing by private individuals and confiscating all housing left vacant for more than six months without a proper cause, ie subject to probate or otherwise disputed last will.
You only dislike that early van Gogh so much because the woman second left looks like you ;)
The point of this early work is that he was teaching *himself*. He was figuring everything out for himself. That’s the basis for the blazing originality and individualism of his utterly transcendent late work, so let’s be thankful for it. I too revelled in that beautifully curated National Gallery show.
Yep, they were in essence his mostly self taught "student" work, It's clear in the awkwardness of some of his early drawings that he initially struggled . Stiff figures, short arms and chimp like faces. He's in his early 30s not in his teens where skill has gentle time to develop. Not all "genius" emerges early fully formed, if ever. (eg: see Cezanne's early work compared to late.) Also painting in mostly one colour is a common exercise to limit the palette so as to concentrate on the handling of paint and tone. The reason the Potato Eaters is "bad" in comparison is mostly because the drawing isn't strong enough at that point. He had a lot of catching up to do but we wouldn't be talking about him if he hadn't done just that.
The scam industrial complex is huge. AARP recently quoted a figure of 15% of people polled reporting that they or someone they are close to havng been recently scammed, which I would guess is an underestimate. I wish there were more safeguards within the financial industry, as most victims are not wealthy. However it would require global cooperation, so sadly unlikely to happen.
Dead As?
I read that The Spike piece about Meghan.
Call me crazy, but when I like someone and want them to succeed I tend not to call them a nightmare and a narcissist.
When I’ve just watched them to a basic lifestyle programme.
I save that energy for people I *don’t* like.
Completely agree re. Van Gogh - I saw the recent exhibition at my local cinema, which had the advantage of being able to look at the picture up close, without the crowds, while the narrator told you its story, and the interviews with the curators were enlightening. Agree, too, re. housing, and have often wondered, sometimes on SM, why Britain can’t follow Denmark, New Zealand & now also Australia’s example by making property speculation by foreign investors exceedingly hard. I suppose the powers that be have long been happy to flog anything and everything to the highest bidder and see giving priority to people born or settled in Britain as “nationalist” -well, Denmark has done precisely that for years.