Masters of Postmodernism
National Museum London
A memorable Visit to The National Gallery Of Modern Art, London
The visit to the National Gallery of Modern Art in London was like a huge gulp of fresh air, invigorating the heart and soul. Wandering through its post-modernism wing, I found myself mesmerised by the brilliance of Van Gogh—the bright, buoyant colours, the sure, expressive brushstrokes, the astonishing vitality that leapt from every canvas. How extraordinary that a man ravaged by inner demons could still summon such radiant joy.! The canvases stood strong, turning up their nose dismissively and in defiance of his protracted suffering.
​The Sunflowers, radiant in yellows pulse with the inevitable arc of life and death, There it was: the tight bud, the bold unfurling, the full-throated bloom, and finally the droop of decline. In those petals lay the entire arc of life, not just of a flower but of any living, breathing self—its striving, its beauty, its inevitable softening into mortality.
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Elsewhere, the quiet wooden chair and the long grass alive with butterflies whispered of a gentler happiness, the kind found in the ordinary, the overlooked. Standing before these works, I was reminded that resilience is not always loud; sometimes it is a stroke of yellow, a flutter of wings, a simple chair waiting in the sun. beckoning with its pipe and packet of tobacco.
Works of some Artists (Part 1)
Van Gogh
Sunflowers
National gallery of Modern Art, London
This is one of five versions of Sunflowers on display in museums and galleries across the world. Van Gogh made the paintings to decorate his house in Arles in readiness for a visit from his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin.. 'The sunflower is mine’, Van Gogh once declared, and it is clear that the flower had various meanings for him. The different stages in the sunflower’s life cycle shown here, from young bud through to maturity and eventual decay, follow in the vanitas tradition of Dutch seventeenth-century flower paintings, which emphasise the transient nature of human actions. The sunflowers were perhaps also intended to be a symbol of friendship and a celebration of the beauty and vitality of nature. The sunflower pictures were among the first paintings Van Gogh produced in Arles that show his signature expressive style. No other artist has been so closely associated with a specific flower, and these pictures are among Van Gogh’s most iconic and best-loved works.
Van Gogh's Chair
National gallery of Modern Art, London
This painting of a simple chair set on a bare floor of terracotta tiles is one of Van Gogh’s most iconic images. It was painted in late 1888, soon after fellow artist Paul Gauguin had joined him in Arles in the south of France. The picture was a pair to another painting, Gauguin’s Chair (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). They were to be hung together, with one chair turned to the right, the other to the left. Both chairs function as surrogate portraits, representing the personalities and distinct artistic outlooks of the two artists. While Van Gogh’s chair is simple and functional, Gauguin’s is an elegant and finely carved armchair. Van Gogh’s chair, on which he placed his pipe and tobacco, is shown in bright daylight. Gauguin’s, with two novels on its seat, was painted at night and is illuminated by a candle and gas light.
Long Grass with Butterflies
National gallery of Modern Art, London
Van Gogh painted this patch of meadow when he was a patient at the psychiatric hospital at Saint-Paul de Mausole, near the village of St-Rémy in the south of France. While at the hospital he made a number of sketches and paintings that look down at small areas of meadow or undergrowth.Although there is no horizon or sky, the path near the top of the picture creates an effect of depth. In contrast to the boundary formed by the path, the remaining space is open and potentially extends beyond the sides and bottom of the canvas. The grass is painted with distinct brushstrokes of varying length, laid down in clusters like the clumps they describe. Van Gogh’s interest in depicting nature in detail may have been encouraged by what he had read about Japanese culture, and his belief that ‘the wise Japanese man...studies a single blade of grass’. But there were also important precedents in Renaissance art and in seventeenth-century Dutch painting.
No 24 (brown, Black & Blue)
Artist: Mark Rothko
Three forms, softened & enlivened by their flickering, brushy edges, appear to hover over a deep cadmium-red ground. The hues act in concert with the weight of the forms, the application of the paint and the size of the canvas to suggest a hazy, enveloping environment. This painting shows how he continued to explore the seemingly simple three-part composition and push it to increasingly dramatic & evocative ends.
