We feature on a blockbuster that came to the Royal Academy in London a short while ago: painting the modern garden – Monet to Matisse. No-one quite imagined just how popular it would be. But it was more than that: it was an exhibition that sought among other things to show how gardening wasn’t seen as a hobby by these artists but as an art-form in itself. Tim Marlow, Great Art s3e4: Painting the Modern Garden – Monet to Matisse, ITV 2019
Three great galleries – the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, the National Portrait gallery in London and the National Gallery in Washington DC were planning the first ever exhibition entirely focused on portraits by Cézanne. Tim Marlow, Great Art s3e5: Cézanne – Portraits of a Life, ITV 2019
Cézanne considered among the greatest of all artists. ibid.
Recently, a hugely popular exhibition began in Japan and made its way to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. And it covered a story that perhaps is not that well known. Arguably, the world’s favourite artist Vincent van Gogh can’t be understood unless one explores and comprehends the impact and influence of Japanese art. Tim Marlow, Great Art s4e1: Van Gogh & Japan, ITV 2020
Van Gogh started to copy Japanese prints, and he imitated the Japanese motifs in the beginning, and slowly he went on to assimilate Japanese styles and Japanese devices. ibid. Professor Tsukasa Kodera
While in Paris, Vincent refined his technique and absorbed the many artistic influences that city had to offer. He actively involved himself with other artists and experimented with materials, colour, perspective and composition. His passion and intensity sometimes overwhelmed him … He began embittered with life in the city. ibid.
He [Claude Monet] was complicated, passionate, dedicated, revolutionary and humorous. He was also at times destitute, suicidal, bereft and frustrated … A complex human being. Tim Marlow, Great Art s4e2: Claude Monet
My family refuse to help me any more. I don’t know where I’ll sleep tomorrow … I was so upset yesterday I was stupid enough to hurl myself into the water. Fortunately no harm was done. ibid. Claude
1878: My wife has just had another baby and I find myself penniless and unable to pay for the medical care that both mother and child must have. ibid.
A few years ago in our series Exhibition on Screen we brought to the cinema a fascinating show from the National Gallery here in London: entitled Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love & Leisure it explores the serene genius of Johannes Vermeer. Tim Marlow Great Art s4e3: Johannes Vermeer and Music from the National Gallery
For Vermeer and his artistic contemporaries music was a favourite subject: a means of conveying allegory or innuendo, social status or romantic encounter, the depiction of music in art carried a diverse range of meaning. ibid.
Vermeer is one of the most fascinating characters in European art. Not just because of the extraordinary and beautiful, enigmatic and seductive paintings he produced, but also because given his status in European art history, relatively little is known about him. ibid.
The Music Lesson c 1662-63: a young woman playing a keyboard while a male companion stands by … the relationship between the two is a matter of historic conjecture … the viewer held in the distance by the objects in the foreground. ibid.
Of the 36 paintings in existence commonly attributed to Vermeer, over a third are in the USA … His pictures are now priceless treasures of these museums. ibid.
A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal c.1670-72: The implication in this painting is that the young woman will soon be joined in just such a duet. ibid.
One of the most popular shows here in London and in New York was Matisse’s The Cut-Outs. Given the delicate nature of the work, it was genuinely a once-in-a-lifetime show. Tim Marlow, Great Art s4e4, Matisse from Tate Modern & Moma
Henri Matisse is one of those artists whose energy and inventiveness run deep throughout his entire life. His is a colourful story in every sense that resulted in many great works, culminating in a late period where brushes were replaced by scissors: ground-breaking three-dimensional and emotional works. ibid.
‘Scissors can acquire more feeling for line than pencil or charcoal. Cutting directly into colour reminds me of a sculptor carving into stone. The cut-out is what I have know found the simplest and most direct way to express myself.’ ibid. Matisse
The Snail 1953 … Memory of Oceania 1952-53 … Large Decoration with Masks 1953 … Blue Nude III 1952 … ibid.
It was in the USA too that the wealthy industrialist Albert Barnes commissioned a huge mural also called The Dance. ibid.
In Philadelphia in the United States there is an absolute treasure trove of a gallery called the Barnes Foundation … One artist who divides opinion [Renoir]: some love him, some don’t. Albert Barnes certainly did and he put together the world’s largest collection of Renior’s paintings. Tim Marlow, Great Art s4e5: Renoir: Revered and Reviled: from the Barnes Foundation, ITV 2020
Luncheon of the Boating Party 1880-1881: ‘I think we’re really looking at the high point, perhaps the end point, of his Impressionist career.’ ibid. scholar
The idea of Heaven, a blissful realm where everyone and everything exists in a state of joyful harmony, has been a constant pre-human occupation. For some it exists somewhere in the sky. For others it’s a vision of nature itself. And there are those who hold it to be right here on Earth. Tim Marlow, Judgement Day: Images of Heaven and Hell: Heaven, Sky Arts 2004
Has Heaven always been a place of fluffy clouds? ibid.
The ancient Egyptian concept of Heaven known as the Field of Reeds was certainly more down to Earth. ibid.
All were destined to end up in the underworld known as Hades. ibid.
The Elysian Fields which first emerged in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey are imagined as a paradise of green meadows. ibid.
Buddhism ... The six stages of Samsara ... What I would call Heaven they would call enlightenment. ibid.
Signorelli’s image of Heaven is florid and lyrical. ibid.
The relationship between Heaven and Nature is an enduring one. ibid.
In Arabic the word for Heaven is Jannah which means literally, garden. ibid.
Heaven as a place of familiarity, a place of reunion ... The British painter Stanley Spencer. In this painting completed in 1927 we see Spencer’s imagined version of the Resurrection. ibid.
By producing the same words in neon [Tracey] Emin gives the piece this feeling of ethereality ... She also personalises it. ibid.
One of the most enduring subjects in art and in life is what happens to us when we die. But while many have tried in vain to glimpse Heaven the idea of Hell and the fear that it instills had proved far much inspiring for artists. Tim Marlow, Judgement Day: Hell
For centuries Hell formed the cornerstone for Christian thinking. ibid.
Hades appears often in myth as part of the stories of great heroes and terrible villains. ibid.
The Jewish idea of Hell called Gehinnam is described as a place of fire and torture. ibid.
The Christian concept in Hell is formulated in the New Testament ... Only Matthew mentions Hell with any regularity. ibid.
Notably the prospect of eternal damnation. ibid.
Great frescoes such as Giotto’s alter pieces, such as Fra Angelico’s Last Judgment all, offer their own harrowing visions of Hell. ibid.
It’s Dante’s descriptions of Hell that have reverberated most strongly down the ages. ibid.
Christianity didn’t have a monopoly over the image or idea of Hell. ibid.
The concept of eternal punishment became fundamental to its view of life and death. ibid.
The French sculpture Auguste Rodin ... The Gates of Hell is a superlative mass of seething contorted figures ... One of the supreme sculptural achievements of the past two centuries. ibid.
Jake and Dinos Chapman ... A vast unrelenting tableau of atrocity. ibid.
The nude is the most enduring subject in art. For more than 20,000 years images of the naked human body have been at the very centre of a long and complex saga. Tim Marlow, The Nude: The Renaissance, Sky Arts 2012
In this series I’m going to explore the ongoing significance of the nude ... A cloak of shame that we’ve nearly shaken off. ibid.