Date published: 2007/07/29
The Royal Academy has a show with title "Impressionists by the Sea" in the Sackler Gallery (so it's smallish). The title is slightly misleading in that around half the work is not impressionist, but of course if they had used a more accurate title they would have gotten less punters through the door (and it worked, the gallery was packed). The period covered is roughly 1850 to 1890.
The exhibition is at the RA until 30 September 2007, before moving to the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC (20 October 2007 to 13 January 2008) and then up to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut (9 February to 11 May 2008).
Although a good part of the exhibition is not impressionist, it is still interesting to see pre-impressionist and not-very-impressionist painters (some rather obscure) working on much the same subject. Easily the largest selection of works by one painter is by Monet (very impressionist), with over a dozen in the show. And as usual, his work stands out. But there were also very good paintings by Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemet ("The Cliffs of Puys at Low Tide", 1877) and Léon Germain Pelouse ("Grandcamp, Low Tide", 1884) and others. It's definitely worth a visit.
Of course these seaside paintings became fashionable because holidaying at the seaside became fashionable at the same time. This was because railways allowed many urban dwellers to get to the seaside. Of course today railways have been replaced with airplanes as a means to go on holiday. And you can imagine that in the same way that the so-called environmentalists today get hysterical about airplanes, their equivalents in the late 19th century must have been equally hysterical about railways (and ironically, most so-called environmentalists today of course have nothing but praise to give rail transport as an idea).
Meanwhile at Tate Modern there is an exhibition with title "Dalí and Film", on until 9 September 2007, before moving to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (14 October 2007 to 6 January 2008), then Salvidor Dalí Museum, St Petersburg Florida (1 February to 1 June 2008) and finally to the Museum of Modern Art, New York (29 June to 15 September 2008). This exhibition was also packed.
The main thrust of the exhibition is that Dalí was influenced a lot by film. They provide some good evidence that this was the case. Indeed they show half a dozen films with which Dalí was involved. And if you want to watch all these films, add an hour and a half (or more) to what you would normally take to see an exhibition. Given that Dalí was a surrealist, you know what to expect from the films. The first, "Un Chien andalou" (done with Luis Buñuel) is notable mostly for (seemingly) showing an eye being sliced by a knife, and for a scene with a man imagining (or not?) himself groping some woman (clothed and naked). You can imagine what controversy that must have caused (no doubt the intent). The second film, "L'Age d'or" (also with Buñuel) was notable mostly for being rather boring.
The best film was perhaps an animation collaboration with Disney, called "Destino". This was started in 1946, but was abandoned after a few months. It was finally revived in 2003, and besides being surreal (so not very commercial) it is fairly typical of good Disney animation. Unfortunately, this was not available to buy in the Tate Modern shop and they claimed it was because Disney would not allow it to be sold. That's a pity.
Meanwhile, the paintings on display included many of his famous ones (e.g. "Sleep", "The Persistence of Memory" and "Metamorphosis of Narcissus") and even more of his not so famous works. Needless to say, they all confirm that he was one screwed up man, especially sexually.
Anybody who has any interest in Dalí should definitely go see the exhibition.
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