art

For all of you who are in London and like art, i HIGHLY recommend the Velasquez expo on at the National Gallery. It is the first completely satisfactory expo i have been to since the Modernism one at the V&A in April. Ok, it wasn’t perfect, i went on Sunday, and the crowds were pretty dense, which meant that i sometimes had to wait or wiggle about in order to get a really good look at the various paintings. But the effort was worth it, the selection of paintings is really good. I also really appreciated it that they give you a complementary booklet to take with you into the expo that provides an overview of the different artistic periods in Velasquez’s career and gives mini-insights into the different paintings. The booklet was really perfect: the info blurbs on each painting was just enough to give you some valuable information to think about and to bring out some points that might not have otherwise been evident, but at the same time, all the blurbs were short enough that it didn’t feel like you were reading your way through the expo. Of course there were all the usual super expensive hard cover beautiful edition of books on Velasquez in the gift shop, but in terms of valuable information to actually improve you viewing experience, i found the free booklet really perfect.
There are a lot of court paintings of the 16th century Spanish monarchy, which effectively demonstrate that the Habsburgs were truly inbred. The booklet pointed out details such as “the infanta, aged eight, pictured in painting number 45 was engaged to her uncle….” And at painting 40 we learn that “Habsburg dynastic politics superseded genetic prudence in determining the choice of Philip IV’s second wife, who was his niece….” Of course, the Habsburg genetic issues are hardly a historic secret, but it was funny to see so many misfortunes displayed in one space.
So if you have time and six pounds to spare, i recommend going.