Gästebewertung: Grün vor Neid Over Bridge Oscar's Painting

Claude Monet. London, Parlament: Sonne durch den Nebel
[London, Parlament: Gap Sonne im Nebel]. 1904. Öl auf Leinwand 81 cm x 92 cm. © Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Vor kurzem besuchte ich Canberra und ging in die National Gallery of Australia zu sehen Meisterwerke aus Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne und darüber hinaus Ausstellung als Leihgabe aus dem Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Diese Ausstellung hat Rekord-Besucherzahlen für eine Ausstellung in Galerie, die angezogen (Es steht jetzt in mehr als 250,000 Besucher). Nach Canberra die Ausstellung Führungen nach Tokio und San Francisco vor der Rückkehr nach Paris.

My first impression was of its popularity. An attempt to enter at opening time in the morning had to be abandoned due to the waiting queues. So I returned around midday thinking there would be a drop off in attendance during the lunch time hours but this was not the case. A third attempt to gain admission without undue queuing on the same day was successful, jedoch, when I returned to the gallery in mid-afternoon around 3pm. No queuing, no waiting just prompt access.

The exhibition features 112 of some of the best-known works of Post-Impressionism by artists such as Van Gogh, Gaugin, Cezanne, Seurat, Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis and of course Monet whom I shall refer to as Oscar (his original first name) for the remainder of this review. Popular works in the show included Van Gogh’s bedroom at Arles 
[Le chambre de van Gogh à Arles] and his Starry night 
[La nuit étoilée], Gaugin’s Tahitian women 
[Femmes de Tahiti], various still life studies and some of Oscar’s paintings such as Villas at Bordighera 
[Les villas à Bordighera] 1884 
oil on canvas, a blaring summer scene of an Italian holiday resort; In the Norwegian 
[En norvégienne] c. 1887 
oil on canvas that shows Oscar’s stepdaughters in a wooden rowing-boat, the three figures and their reflections floating on background of leaf and water; and Study of a figure outdoors: woman with a sunshade turned to the right 
[Essai de figure en plein-air: femme à l'ombrelle tournée vers la droite] 1886 
oil on canvas and gift of Michel Monet, the artist’s son, study of a female figure in a white dress located in a sun-drenched landscape with straw hat and parasol.

My personal favourites of Oscar’s paintings were London, Parlament: sun through the fog 
[London, Parlament: Gap Sonne im Nebel] 1904 
oil on canvas, a powerful portrait of the English Houses of Parliament, as blur of red and gold tinged haze across the polluted sky and river; and
 Waterlily pond, green harmony 
[Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte] 1899 
oil on canvas. Standing before this painting I was … well … stunned. It is absolutely beautiful, a celebration of the hue of green. There is a bit of blue and pink as well but it is the green that dazzles. It is a view of the Japanese bridge in his garden at Giverny straddling a scene crammed with trees, reeds, bushes and water lilies. Wonderful to see!

Images of the work exhibited can be viewed on the gallery’s website along with accompanying contextual information and a short video, Klicken Sie hier.

Michael Hill, PhD (aka Doctor Comics) is a Sydney based comics scholar and visual artist.

Claude Monet. 1899. Waterlily pond, green harmony [Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte]. Öl auf Leinwand 89 cm x 93.5 cm. © Musée d'Orsay, Paris.