European Masters Exhibition

Well, I made it!

I left it until the last week of the exhibition but I made it to the European Masters at the National Gallery of Victoria!

And it was glorious [exclamation mark]

My Dad got a little excited and hired the audio tour for us all so he, Mum and I got to toddle around in a broken out-of-sync flow with all the other audio tourists listening to William McInnes murmuring soothing things about the lives of the artists, various artistic movements and historical events.

William McInnes did a very good job and I hardly spent any of the time thinking about him with his shirt off at all.

I am one of the most annoying people to go to galleries with because I go into little staring coma-like reveries and can stay on my feet long after other people would have opted for amputation or at least sitting down but luckily the trait is inherited and my parents survived intact.

Here's a little sample of my favourites from the exhibition, though of course they don't do the real paintings any justice.

Max Beckmann - The Synagogue in Frankfurt Am Main

Johan Christian Dahl - The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in December 1820

Alfred Sisley - Banks of the Seine in Autumn

Max Beckmann - Double Portrait

Franz Marc - Dog Lying in the Snow

Edvard Munch - In the Bar

Lovis Corinth - Walchensee in Winter

Henry Rousseau - The Avenue in the Park of Saint-Cloud

Gustave Courbet - Village Road in Winter

Edgar Degas - Orchestra Musicians

Paul Meyerheim - The Jealous Lioness

Two other paintings worth mentioning were Eugenie Bandell's beautiful 'Japanese Dolls with Apples' (I couldn't find a copy but it was a lovely thing, all vibrant but soft colours, lots of angles blended together) and Fernand Khnopff's 'The Gamekeeper' which you can see here.