Superb paintings of lightning storms by Giorgione, Poussin, Delacroix, Constable, Bierstadt, Rousseau, Klimt, Bonnard, and Tom Thomson.
Rousseau
In search of realist or naturalist paintings of ballooning and early powered flight. Some surprises, and paintings by Watteau, Puvis de Chavannes, and Henri Rousseau.
The mental images which we perceive are created in the brain, which has some fixed ideas about how to do that. They’re not the same as optical laws used in cameras and related devices.
Initially a portrait and history painter, he co-founded the Barbizon School in the late 1840s, turning to evocative scenes of poor country people.
Their landscapes developed a magic distinctive to the artist. Only by direct comparison are their similarities and differences made clear.
After a visit to Berlin, his colours became more strident, and his brushstrokes looser. He also made many woodcuts, which influenced and informed his paintings.
With early success, he painted the rich colours of summer in western Norway, and some magical scenes of foxgloves and Midsummer Eve.
Natural Norway in the early 20th century, with its courting couple in a cowshed, watermills, dramatic fjords, and rugged hills.
No matter how old and jaded you get, you can always appreciate the breath-taking view from the top of a hill, as the earth sweeps out in myriad details, as far as the distant horizon.
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