We must confess that religious paintings are not our favourite subject, and we've tended to regard Spanish Catholic art as being, well, just a little too religious to cope with. So we approached the Francisco de Zurbarán exhibition at the National Gallery in London with a certain amount of trepidation. A degree of contrition is due.... Yes, there were monks, altarpieces and lots of saints, but we were blown away by Zurbarán's ability to depict textures and fabrics and to convey an intensity of feeling. It's an absolutely excellent exhibition, full of truly beautiful paintings. Such religious art was intended to bring the faithful closer to God, to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth, in an age when many could not read. Zurbarán was a master at it. Let's start with a saint: Just take a look at the fabrics, trimmings and gems in this picture. And the garments are even more striking when you are stood in front of this nearly life-size figure. This is Casild...
Peter Paul Rubens' Rainbow Landscape -- that symbol of hope seems a fitting image to start with this month as the weather finally turns summery and the coronavirus pandemic looks to be on the wane, variants permitting. June 3 will see the painting brought together at London's Wallace Collection with its companion piece, A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning from the National Gallery, for the first time in 200 years. Het Steen was Rubens' country estate outside Antwerp, and these paintings appear to have been made for his own pleasure. Rubens: Reuniting the Great Landscapes is free of charge, though there's a suggested £5 donation, and it runs until August 15.
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern is, in principle, meant to be open to the general public from June 14, but the Tate says all tickets up to October 24 are sold out and the next lot won't be released until September. So you can either mock up your own Kusama-inspired immersive installation of endless reflections at home over the summer, or maybe it's better to look forward to visiting somewhat nearer the closing date of June 12, 2022, when surely things should be back to something approaching normal.
The next show we've trailed twice before in vain, so let's hope it's third time lucky. Noël Coward: Art & Style at the Guildhall Art Gallery is finally scheduled to begin its run on June 14. The exhibition, including previously undisplayed material, is being staged to commemorate the centenary of Coward's West End debut as a 19-year-old playwright. The writer of Brief Encounter and Mad Dogs and Englishmen had a huge impact on fashion and culture in the mid-20th century, and his influence continues to this day. Until December 23.
The Netherlands has been extremely hesitant about reopening its museums, but they'll finally do so on June 5. Among the delayed exhibitions for which tickets are now going on sale is Fleeting -- Scents in Colour at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Scent dispensers accompanying each painting provide your chance to capture the smell of the 17th century -- a grocer's shop or the bleaching fields, for example, but also the rather less pleasant odour of an Amsterdam canal. See and sniff until August 29.
Later in the month, on June 25, Mary Magdalen opens at the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Artists down the centuries have been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding the story of this follower of Jesus, with connotations for some of sex and sin. See some of the work she has inspired and perhaps unravel some of the puzzles surrounding her in a show that runs until January 9.
Gustave Caillebotte: He's not the best known of the Impressionists, but he was one of the most influential, partly because of his role in providing financial support for his more famous colleagues. A big exhibition with 90 canvases opens at the Fondation Giannada in Martigny in south-east Switzerland on June 18 and is scheduled to run until November 21. Among the works on show is perhaps Caillebotte's most distinctive painting, The Floor Scrapers, from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Now, if these were normal times and we were able to travel over to Switzerland to take a look at Caillebotte, we'd be very likely to make the short but scenic train ride from Martigny to Lausanne to pop into the Hermitage to check out Hans Emmenegger (1866-1940), a Swiss painter you've possibly never heard of. A Google images search reveals a few of the beguilingly unusual landscapes he created. June 25 to October 31, if you can make it past the border guards....
Finally this month, the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg promises an exhibition the curators say is a first of its kind. Modern Times looks at how artists have tackled depictions of industry in both paint and photography over the past 175 years (though they could perhaps have gone back another half-century for Coalbrookdale by Night). The show, with around 30 paintings and 170 photographs, runs from June 26 to September 26.
Images
Peter Paul Rubens, The Rainbow Landscape, c. 1636. © Trustees of The Wallace Collection, London
Jan van der Heyden, View of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, c. 1670, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Francesco Bianchi Buonavita, Mary Magdalene with the Ointment Jar (The Myrrh-Bearer), 1st half of 17th century, Benjamin Proust Fine Art Ltd, London
Francesco Bianchi Buonavita, Mary Magdalene with the Ointment Jar (The Myrrh-Bearer), 1st half of 17th century, Benjamin Proust Fine Art Ltd, London
Hans Emmenegger, Interior of a Wood, 1933, Collection Pictet, Switzerland. Photo all rights reserved
Wonderful blog & good post on art gallery. Its really helpful for me, awaiting for more new post. Keep Blogging!
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