Art-y Farty

I went to public school, I was never really exposed to art unless it was through my parents & more through my father.
My first trip to see an art exhibition was to see the Turner exhibition in Canberra.

Lots of pastels, big old-school nautical ships and assorted watercolours. To 10 year old .... boring but also a bit of a novelty (the audio phone part before mobile phones).

Flashing forward to last weekend, I was in Canberra to see the Renaissance exhibition. A highly publicised exhibition displaying the works of Raphael, Botticelli & some others.  It was good, not as vast & diverse as I thought but glad that I saw it. 

Going to Canberra "to see the art" got me thinking, when did I start to appreciate art? And more importantly ... am I forging a hobby in art snobbery?  (But then why else would you go to Canberra?)

Recent exhibitions I have been to were the Masterpieces from Paris, Van Gough, Turner to Monet. I've also been to the Rijksmuseum, The National Art Centre in Tokyo, the Van Gough Museum.  A lot of my art appreciation came from travelling however, its also the colours, vibrancy and at times the sheer scale of some of the canvases.

You can tell that I'm a Van Gough/Monet girl. I can't describe it too well, but its just the colours and seeing the world through a delicate lens.  It also helps that the bulk of the paintings are inspired by France and French lifestyle.

One of the clinchers for appreciating art is when you "get it" or it amazes you or you want to be a character or in the painting.  I felt that when I first really looked at Klimt's The Kiss.   It's the stuff fairytales are made of - as a romantic female, I wanted to be that woman.

However, I also get that feeling when I see the big blockbuster art pieces like Monet's Waterlilies or Da Vinci's Mona Lisa & you want to pinch yourself. You can't believe you're seeing this major piece of art with your own eyes.   It makes you awe struck. It makes you feel insignificant.  It makes you want to buy the $10 version in the gift shop & decorate your walls with it.


Images taken from:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTF0HQGP1LamMjZSe71X6a5pBMESahy7V2PxO_AeW_bl9f3amBhQA
http://marionblackburn.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VanGoghBranchesAlmondTree.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/k/klimt/kiss.jpg