What are your favourite pieces of art? (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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What are your favourite pieces of art?
3:06pm Friday 6th July 2012 in Opinion
By Sir Bill Taylor, Lancashire Telegraph blogger
Being the age that I am, (60) our house is pretty much scattered with Athena prints and blocks and their kin.
I have a Picasso Guernica mislaid somewhere. It’s huge.
We have a number of Lowrys (no originals sadly). I can’t recall their titles.
Some Van Gogh’s - Starry Night (probably because of Don McLean . . . 'But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you') and Sunflowers. We have some sketches too - The Reaper, and a similar one of a woman working in a field.
On a caravan holiday in France we went miles well out of our way to sit in The Café in Arles.
“Where is the bridge of Van Gogh?” I asked. Or even, “Ou est le pont du Van Gogh, s’il vous plait?”
Le shrugging garcon hadn’t got a clue what I was talking about. The summonsed Patron explained “Any bridge you like M’sieur!”.
On another trip to Paris I got to the Musee d’Orsay, in the old 1900-1973 Gare d’Orsay, complete with the monstrous “striking” renovated station clock (Horloge). Close to the National Assembly building near the Seine, it’s like a living Athena catalogue, especially of the Impressionists, opening in 1986.
“Take the lift straight to the third floor M’sieur” I think, from memory, I was quietly advised by the receptionist.
It was overkill. Your Monets and your Manets and a chance to OD on Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Pissarro, Renoir, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh.
If like me, you’re a bit of an art(less) idiot, you mightn’t know these artists' works, until you see them.
And in front of every great “familiar” painting were two or three young people in their early 20’s with easels, palettes, brushes, knives, copying these masterpieces. That quite surprised me.
What really surprised me was how tiny the Degas ballerina was!
Not much bigger than A4, if, amongst the hundreds of originals, I was staring at the right one.
On leaving, I bought my wife and daughter (me really) a print of Monet’s Les Coquelicots (Poppies).
I don’t know how I got into these reminiscences.
Do you have any prints on the wall? Which ones? Why? Tell us about your arty interests or experiences.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (3)
10:54am Sat 7 Jul 12
Sue Lee says...
Les Coquelicots? Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Pissarro, Renoir, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, all in one go?
Where's the gruff, northern, working class, Labour man, no nonsense persona now?
Is there another side to this guy or is he just taking the Camille Pissaro?
4:25pm Wed 11 Jul 12
Sue Lee says...
5:15pm Wed 11 Jul 12
Parly says...
Two are large framed pictures by Vettriano (“In Thoughts of You” and “Only the Deepest Red”) and the others are simple pictures by artists I couldn’t name if someone had a gun to my head. Nearly all are of women because women are quite beautiful creatures in my opinion.
The other one is a large pastel drawing my daughter did last year at school. It’s a simple drawing but I really liked it so had it framed and put it up on the wall.