It's Friday! Doesn't mean much to me now that I'm in retirement, one day just merges into the next and quite frequently I have no idea which day of the week it is. But for you poor wage slaves, Friday is usually a good day and, if your particular 'tractor factory' is in the UK, I am told that there is a possibility it will stop raining for 27 minutes at some time over the weekend! So, to set you in the right mood, here are a few paintings for you to gaze at which will, I'm sure, raise your spirits even further.
Obviously I begin with my favourite, Paul Klee, and a painting entitled The Vase :
Here's another called Rising Star:
Don't bother to try and make realistic sense of it. For virtually his entire life Klee (to use the current argot) 'pushed the envelope', experimenting with colour, shape, line and composition. Rumour has it that if you look closely enough you will find a Higgs Boson in there somewhere!
I have liked Beh Shahn's work for years but the fact is that he was a dreadful old' Trot' and most of his work is dead miserable. However, I did find this one which has some innocent charm to it. It's called Amusement Park:
Of course, I cannot resist offering some John Singer Sargent. This one brings back personal memories for me because the 'Memsahib' and I once holidayed in a lovely old Croatian town on the coast of Illyria. Part of the reason we chose it was because they have a high-speed ferry that crosses the Adriatic providing day trips to Venice. We had never been to Venice but everyone told us that on your first visit you should try and go in by sea. Excellent advice and this, more or less, was the view with which we were greeted:
However, if I am going to feature Singer Sargent then I must, I cannot do otherwise, than show one of the many very beautiful - and very rich - ladies he painted. Here is Madame Paul Poirson - sexy little minx, ain't she?
Finally, and especially for my old e-pal, DM, here are a couple of Turners. He does demonstrate a strong 'drama queen' tendency in some of his paintings but this one will knock your socks off:
But here's something more soothing, called Sunset on the River:
There, that's got you all relaxed and ready for the weekend, hasn't it? No, no, there's no extra charge, it's all part of the service here at D&N.
Another jolly good way to visit Venice is to go in early May after a week in Florence. The blessed relief of the absence of traffic endlessly trying to run you down adds to the wonderful joy you get by strolling around the world's most beautiful work of art.
Posted by: dearieme | Friday, 13 July 2012 at 09:41
I absolutely agree with you, DM, on the subject of the traffic in Florence, a city with which I was underwhelmed! And I loathed most of the art, too! Sorry, but I can't stand that Italian Rennaissance stuff, gangster art, I call it. Wotcha' fink of those Turners, then?
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 13 July 2012 at 10:04
Many thanks. Particularly for the Klee works. I was aware of him, of course, but it is only due to you banging on about him that I have actually tried to look deeply. He has the knack of being able to paint pictures that work on an emotional level, without us having much of an idea why. They just make us happy, don't they?
Posted by: Whyaxye | Friday, 13 July 2012 at 11:58
Absolutely right, 'W', there is a childish delight in his work which charms, although in the mid to late '30s his art became more sombre, even threatening. Instead of the delicate lines he normally deployed you find great, thick, black slashes. Of course this period covered the rise of the Nazis and later it presaged his own death in 1940.
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 13 July 2012 at 12:13