ART TRILOGY

I love a visit to an Art Gallery or Museum, it is probably my most favourite way to spend time. In the past few years I have started a little thing where I head to Sydney to the NSW Art Gallery and meet my lovely cousin (and fabulous artist herself) for a morning or day of total art absorption.

About a month ago we planned to meet to see THREE exhibitions on one day. This was a tricky day to pull off, we're both super busy people and two of the exhibitions were finishing up and one starting and the overlap for all three at once was a week. But we did it, with my choosing Valentine's Day (for no real reason, in fact it didn't click until we'd locked it in) for a Galentine's Day of Art!

I love this trip down to Sydney, I catch the early train, sleep most of the way down, waking around Strathfield, before heading into Central, changing trains to St James and then that lovely 10 minute walk past Hyde Park and St Mary's, through the Domain to the Gallery.

First exhibition we went to was The Lady and The Unicorn. I knew a little bit about these old tapestries, but was completely overwhelmed by their size and beauty. Oh my goodness, 6 ginormous French tapestries from the 15th Century is very good condition and just beyond what you could even imagine.

So much to look at within each tapestry, we were there for quite a while, there was a small collection of matching pics and sculptures and an interesting video with the collection, but really the tapestries are all you want. This only just opened, and is totally worth the trip down. My photos couldn't even fit the entire pieces in let alone do them any kind of justice.

After such a sensory overload, morning tea was required!

Next stop, the biggie, Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum. I must admit this is not a huge favourite, I find the pieces dark and gloomy. But yet, I love looking at all art, and so was fascinated by styles and techniques and was quite taken with a few of them. The ones I liked the most, bar the Vermeer which was just enchanting, were unknown painters to me.

This took some time to get through, so a late lunch was next.

Finally, we took in Robert Mapplethorpe's Pictures. I have always loved his photography, but after reading Patti Smith's Just Kids, really got to 'know' the man a bit more which amplifies the art itself. This was a great collection, from his early work to the popular and well known pieces and the last things he took which were quite stunning. Looking at some, you might think what is the big deal until you see the date he took them, he was a groundbreaker in many ways. His work of high importance.

As always we ended up in the shop, doing a little art purchasing.

Then we bid our goodbyes, and I headed back off to the train and home. My heart and soul fed and satisfied, was the perfect mid week break!