Problem
When to go to Edinburgh? What's new?
Answers
Right now the Rembrandt exhibition is starting this weekend. Later this year, there's the Edinburgh Festival.
I shall quote from their press release which reached me July 4th 2018:
'Britain’s love affair with one of history’s greatest artists will be explored in the major Festival exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery this summer.'
Yes, the British, along with the rest of the Europeans, are keen on Rembrandt.
If you go to Amsterdam, a major draw is the giant Rembrandt painting, The Night Watch. Why this subject, why such a big picture, why so many people? The answer was simple. The Night Watch was a group who paid to have their portrait painted.
Painters are often drawn to paint the poor. Why? Across the Channel, in Europe, crippled French painter, Lautrec, painted the poor who he met in bars.
The poor will pose for free, flattered by the attention. Or they pose for little money. Lenkiwicz, in southen England, painted the poor.
Painters are also drawn to paint portraits the rich, who will pay to have their portraits painted and immortalised.
Most people who have been to art galleries or studied art will know of Rembrandt's self-portraits and his pictures of Jewish characters such as The Jewish Bride, in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum.
I was puzzled as to why Rembrandt drew so many Jews, more it seemed to me, than other painters who were not Jewish. Then I learned that Rembrandt lived in or alongside the Jewish area of Amsterdam.
Artists often live in budget accommodation in the lively, crowded, areas of a city, when they are students and poor and unknown and starting out. Some make money and move on. Others stay where they have always been.
"Rembrandt: Britain’s Discovery of the Master, which opens this weekend, (July 2018) is the first exhibition to tell the exceptionally rich story of how Rembrandt’s work in Britain has enraptured and inspired collectors, artists and writers over the past 400 years."
Why go specially to Edinburgh? You can see Rembrandts in major galleries in London and all over the world.
They say: This major new exhibition, which will only be shown in Edinburgh, will bring together key works by Rembrandt which remain in British collections, as well as treasures that have left the country. Some of the exhibits have never been on public display before, while others return to Britain for the first time in decades, some after even a century or more."
I looked in Wikipedia. Rembrandt is, of courese featured, with useful details about which paintings are where.
The exhibition will include outstanding works such as Belshazzar’s Feast (c.1635) from the National Gallery London, and Girl at a Window (1645) from Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Interesting. A tourist might go to one or two art galleries in London. London's National Gallery, bang in the centre of London by Traflagar Square, would be high on everybody's list. Dulwich Art Gallery, more for the cognoscenti.
They go on to say: "as well as star paintings now overseas, such as The Mill (1645/8) from the National Gallery in Washington, which left Britain when it was sold to a US collector for the staggering sum of £100,000 in 1911."
Yes, the British, along with the rest of the Europeans, are keen on Rembrandt.
If you go to Amsterdam, a major draw is the giant Rembrandt painting, The Night Watch. Why this subject, why such a big picture, why so many people? The answer was simple. The Night Watch was a group who paid to have their portrait painted.
Painters are often drawn to paint the poor. Why? Across the Channel, in Europe, crippled French painter, Lautrec, painted the poor who he met in bars.
The poor will pose for free, flattered by the attention. Or they pose for little money. Lenkiwicz, in southen England, painted the poor.
Painters are also drawn to paint portraits the rich, who will pay to have their portraits painted and immortalised.
Rembrandt was known for portraits of people, portraits of everybday life, and use of dark and light, influenced by other painters who were inflenced by the Italian master of dark and light on people's faces, Caravaggio
I was puzzled as to why Rembrandt drew so many Jews, more it seemed to me, than other painters who were not Jewish. Then I learned that Rembrandt lived in or alongside the Jewish area of Amsterdam.
Artists often live in budget accommodation in the lively, crowded, areas of a city, when they are students and poor and unknown and starting out. Some make money and move on. Others stay where they have always been.
"Rembrandt: Britain’s Discovery of the Master, which opens this weekend, (July 2018) is the first exhibition to tell the exceptionally rich story of how Rembrandt’s work in Britain has enraptured and inspired collectors, artists and writers over the past 400 years."
Why go specially to Edinburgh? You can see Rembrandts in major galleries in London and all over the world.
They say: This major new exhibition, which will only be shown in Edinburgh, will bring together key works by Rembrandt which remain in British collections, as well as treasures that have left the country. Some of the exhibits have never been on public display before, while others return to Britain for the first time in decades, some after even a century or more."
I looked in Wikipedia. Rembrandt is, of courese featured, with useful details about which paintings are where.
The exhibition will include outstanding works such as Belshazzar’s Feast (c.1635) from the National Gallery London, and Girl at a Window (1645) from Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Interesting. A tourist might go to one or two art galleries in London. London's National Gallery, bang in the centre of London by Traflagar Square, would be high on everybody's list. Dulwich Art Gallery, more for the cognoscenti.
They go on to say: "as well as star paintings now overseas, such as The Mill (1645/8) from the National Gallery in Washington, which left Britain when it was sold to a US collector for the staggering sum of £100,000 in 1911."
The last time I went to Edinburgh, our main objective was to see the Edinburgh Festival, We also went to the National Gallery, which was free. (Often exhibtions make a charge - which covers the enomous cost of transporting and insuring those paintings, maybe paying the painting's owners for the privilege.
How long is it on? Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master, showing exclusively in Edinburgh from 7 July – 14 October 2018.
The Edinburgh Festival (comedy and drama, paid professional performances in theatres and fringe free, pay what you like, pass-the-hat, events in pubs and on street corners, is 3-27 Aug 2018, so you could combine both.
Scottish National Gallery
The Mound
Edinburgh
EH2 2EL
Scotland
Tel: 0131 624 6200.
You get 50% off exhibitions with the National Art Pass.
Opening times:
10 am - 5 pm. Extended to 7 pm Thursday, and to 6 pm in August. Sometiems you leave sightseeing until the last day when you rush around. You might want to choose a less busy time to beat a queue or walk around freely and see the pictures close up or from a distance when it is less crowded.
You might want to get there at least half an hour or an hour early, better still at least two hours before closing time, in case last admission is well before closing, and to get your moneysworth.
However, admission tickets are timed and priced accordingly. Tickets for 10-4 pm cost £15 with concessions from £13.50. Before 11 am (10 am-11 am) and after 4 pm tickets are £10, with possible concessions. You buy get electronic tickets in advance online.
You might want to get there at least half an hour or an hour early, better still at least two hours before closing time, in case last admission is well before closing, and to get your moneysworth.
However, admission tickets are timed and priced accordingly. Tickets for 10-4 pm cost £15 with concessions from £13.50. Before 11 am (10 am-11 am) and after 4 pm tickets are £10, with possible concessions. You buy get electronic tickets in advance online.
Art Pass membership is not cheap, £67, but gives admission to 240 places as well as 50% off exhibitions.
Look for concessions for children, couples, families and groups.
If you cannot afford the cost, bear in mind that a few art galleries and museums in the UK are free, such as the major museum in Cardiff, Wales.
In London, you can visit the National Gallery. There's a Rembrandt plus another exhibition on Edward Bawden this summer (2018) at the Dulwich Gallery. (See later post.)
Edinburgh
Scottish National Gallery
nationalgalleries.org
London
National Gallery
nationalgallery.org.uk
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Gallery Road
London SE21 7AD
Tel: 020 8693 5254
Tickets Adult £16.50. Senir £15.50.
Concessions £8 (for students, disabled, unemployed, Art Fund, Museum Association members).
Under 18s, Carers, Frieinds of The Museum, free.)
book online:
dpg.art/bawden
Gifts:
dpg.art/shop
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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