National Portrait Gallery
I was recently in England for a global conference. I ended up staying through the weekend. Before I went, I was scanning through my Goldman Sachs Alumni newsletter. I happened to go all the way to the end (which doesn't always happen) when I saw that they were the main sponsor of a new exhibit, Picasso Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. I knew I had to go!
I bought my friend and I tickets advanced. Highly recommend. There was a significant queue to buy tickets, but with advanced purchase, we could move to a very short line.
The exhibit was really great. It is one large loop and is primarily in chronological order.
I continue to be amazed by Picasso's earlier work. It is so lifelike and realistic. It demonstrates that to bend the rules you need to know the rules, and Picasso definitely knew the rules.
Matt would probably get mad if I didn't mention how obsessed I was with how many different museums, collections these paintings, sculptures came from.
I found the last room of the exhibit to be the most impressive. It had a few different themes that I liked:
1. They had a series of charcoal drawings of three different women. What was so informative was the background information about each woman's personality. Without even knowing that, I could have guessed it. But that information about the sketches, I will be able to use for the rest of my life. It is another demonstration of how deliberate Picasso was. For example, the woman who was a bit more rigid, reserved, was drawn with angular features, edgy.
2. Picasso also had a period late in life where he actually did interpretations of other artists' famous paintings. I had no idea! He was particularly interested in Spanish artists. He did a reinterpretation of Las Meninas (take a look at the link -- it has both versions) by Diego Velázquez, which I saw at Museo del Prado. Picasso also did a caricature of one of the characters in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, which my mom and I saw in Toledo! I also liked Picasso's Old Man Seated, which is based off of Van Gogh's many portraits. I had just seen a bunch of those as well at the Van Gogh Museum with my dad (post to come!).
This exhibit really was thoughtful. The art was composed in a meaningful way and I really enjoyed the themes they created.
Time in museum: 1.5 hrs
Times visited: 2
Overall: This visit = A-, overall B+
I bought my friend and I tickets advanced. Highly recommend. There was a significant queue to buy tickets, but with advanced purchase, we could move to a very short line.
The exhibit was really great. It is one large loop and is primarily in chronological order.
I continue to be amazed by Picasso's earlier work. It is so lifelike and realistic. It demonstrates that to bend the rules you need to know the rules, and Picasso definitely knew the rules.
Matt would probably get mad if I didn't mention how obsessed I was with how many different museums, collections these paintings, sculptures came from.
I found the last room of the exhibit to be the most impressive. It had a few different themes that I liked:
1. They had a series of charcoal drawings of three different women. What was so informative was the background information about each woman's personality. Without even knowing that, I could have guessed it. But that information about the sketches, I will be able to use for the rest of my life. It is another demonstration of how deliberate Picasso was. For example, the woman who was a bit more rigid, reserved, was drawn with angular features, edgy.
2. Picasso also had a period late in life where he actually did interpretations of other artists' famous paintings. I had no idea! He was particularly interested in Spanish artists. He did a reinterpretation of Las Meninas (take a look at the link -- it has both versions) by Diego Velázquez, which I saw at Museo del Prado. Picasso also did a caricature of one of the characters in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, which my mom and I saw in Toledo! I also liked Picasso's Old Man Seated, which is based off of Van Gogh's many portraits. I had just seen a bunch of those as well at the Van Gogh Museum with my dad (post to come!).
This exhibit really was thoughtful. The art was composed in a meaningful way and I really enjoyed the themes they created.
Time in museum: 1.5 hrs
Times visited: 2
Overall: This visit = A-, overall B+
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