This week-end, I went to London to explore one more time the museums I love the most.
I have been visiting a few times before the National Gallery, or The Victoria and Albert Museum and I never get tired of it. But this time, where I spent most of my time was at the Tate Britain.
There are two Tate museums in London, one is the Tate Britain in Millbank and the other is the Tate Modern which opened in 2000.
and so...
At the Tate Britain, to my big surprise, a unique Pre-Raphaelites exposition was happening. The amazing collection of the Rossettis, which I highly recommend you to visit while it is still going on (until September 2023).
I have had the pleasure to witness in real life some of my all time favorite paintings. A true inspiration for me, as I am diving myself into painting more female portraits and starting to write poetry. I found out that I was painting the same symbols such as the Butterfly to represent the woman's soul. Women were painted in a romantic, sensual yet strong way. They wanted to create art for the "art's sake" and the cult of Beauty.
They believe art should serve a single idea: beauty.
Orient infused many of these paintings of women painted in bright colors and beautiful shapes.
So many connections and illuminations were made during my time there, exploring and looking closely at each artwork; I found that my (he)art was resonating to that era in so many ways.
I find beauty in revealing through art the mystery of the woman, her essence...wild and free. I always felt I was painting poetry and while reading the history of how the pre-raphaelites poets, painters, men and women were working and creating alltogether... I left even more inspired and in a urge to go back to my easel to paint more and more.
I was so mesmerized by the details of each women, I saw symbols I naturally love to incorporate too in my art such as the rose flower, nudity, the woman naked to me represents the wild self, the authenticity of the soul.
The pure vulnerability, yet the fierce and strong self.
Many of Gabriel's aesthetic portraits, such as Monna Vanna, Aurelia and The Beloved, began as images of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Venus Verticordia alludes to Venus's ability to change 'bodily love, symbolised by the apple, to 'soul's' love, shown by the butterfly. This is echoed in the transition from honeysuckle to roses.
The agent of change, symbolised by the arrow, is Venus's beauty. This is aligned with the beauty and power of art in the form of the painting. (Text from the Tate Britain gallery).
Every month I try to take the time to go to the museum to infuse myself into the energy and really learn from the masters, the way they lived and painted. It is very important for my artist journey to keep learning.
Sharing with you one of my female portraits that I created during this year, like the pre raphaelites painters, I found myself working over and over on the painting, adding many layers of oils, until I found satisfaction and truth.
Comments