Saturday 25 March 2006

Tate Britain

I went to the Tate Britain today for a visit. They have British art there from the 1500s onwards and a large modern collection as well. In the first room I visited I saw several beautiful items. One was a painting I have seen (a print of) before: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent. The light in the painting is so incredible. Sargent painted out of doors during dusk repeatedly to get the effect he wanted.

In the same room is a painting by John William Waterhouse called The Lady of Shallot. When we lived in Scotland my dad took a research trip to London and sent me a postcard of this picture. I had read the whole Anne of Green Gables series, and Anne quotes from a poem called "The Lady of Shallot" by Tennyson. Because of Anne, I was memorising the poem and I loved the postcard my dad sent me. The painting is huge: 153 x 200 cm.

The museum has a large collection of works by JMW Turner. I especially liked his watercolours, such as the painting of Norham Castle at sunrise.

1 comment:

RenderB said...

Loreena Mckennitt's The Visit also has a song with that title/theme.
(Used to be quite a history buff and a lover of legends from the dark ages and the whole Arthur/Camelot theme so I knew a variation of the story.) Course it's not everyone's cup of tea but it reminded me of the song.
Nice blog btw.