The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is the 14th largest gallery in the world, and now Melbourne can see some of its masterpieces.
Clara Southern, Australia 1860-1940, An old bee farm, c.1900. Oil on canvas, 69.1 × 112.4 cm.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest, 1942
Hyperbole surrounds the Impressionists, who are perennial blockbuster fodder. In truth, they were not a united group of radicals and their subject matter is far darker than commonly acknowledged.
Detail from John Russell:
Almond tree in blossom c1887.
oil on gold ground on canvas on plywood 46.2 x 55.1 cm.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004 (2004.216)
The Impressionists were obsessed with the science of colour, which is celebrated in a new exhibition in Adelaide. At least 50 of the paintings have never previously been exhibited in Australia.
Debussy’s Clair de Lune belongs to the Impressionist movement, which included visual artists like Claude Monet.
Wikimedia
Debussy’s Clair de Lune, meaning ‘moonlight’, is one of the most easily recognised pieces of music, but its origins are complex. The piece was influenced by poetry, Baroque music and the Impressionist movement.
Detail from Katsushika Hokusai, The great wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki namiura), (1830–34), from the Thirty-six views of Mt Fuji (Fugaku-sanjū-rokkei)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1909 (426-2)
Hokusai’s Great Wave is the enduring image of Japanese art. Less well known is the story of its primary pigment - Prussian blue - which was created in a lab accident in Berlin and sparked ‘blue fever’ in Europe.
The X-rays of the Australian Synchrotron reveal a remarkably clear picture of the woman’s face.
David Thurrowgood
It took cutting edge technology and a collaboration between the Australian Synchrotron and the CSIRO to reveal the mysterious hidden lady in Degas’s famous painting.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne