Degas to Dali exhibition

To celebrate the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, a few friends and I (and what seemed like half of Auckland) decided to check out the Degas to Dali exhibition on at the Auckland Art Gallery today. It was a fantastic collection of artwork by modern artists of various movements, including Impressionism, cubism, surrealism, and pop art. $17.00 NZD to check out 79 paintings, sculptures and prints by 62 master artists – not a bad deal.

My favourites out of the lot were:

Edgar Degas, Before the Performance, c1896-c1898,
Oil on paper laid on canvas

Edgar Degas, Study of a Girl's Head, Late 1870s,
Oil on canvas

John Duncan Fergusson, Dieppe, 14 July 1905: Night, 1905,
Oil on canvas

Gwen John, A Young Nun, c1915-1920,
Oil on canvas

Pablo Picasso, Mère et enfant [Mother and Child], 1902,
Oil on paper laid on canvas

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Japanisches Theater [Japanese Theatre], 1909,
Oil on canvas

Gustave Courbet, The Wave, c1869, Oil on canvas

I learnt some pretty neat things about modern art too. For example, painting landscapes was initially considered sub-par art because pre-modern art valued human beings and historical figures and events as subjects. It’s crazy to think that now because landscapes can inspire wonder and awe, just as amazing art depicting persons and well-known happenings can. Also, the invention of the camera totally changed the world of art: no longer did artists need to strive to faithfully capture reality anymore, so artists experimented with distorted perspectives and imagery. Rather than letting their external surroundings dictate their work, lots of artists looked inwards for inspiration and expression.

I had an awesome time today. Yay for art!

G.