Art Trip to Venice

gallery cafe booth with a view

Last week I took an art trip with my friend Trudy, to Venice. I had never been before. As a young girl, when I'd heard about Venice, my thoughts of a city with canals for streets seemed quite impossible, and so in my mind it was kind of like a fantasy to me. Perhaps this is why I was swept away by it's magic. It's a stunning city.  Venice in October is perfect for getting out and about, not too hot, but not cold either.  There are less tourists in the fall than in the spring and summer months, so that's a bonus.

shop window on a canal

What impressed me about the city more than anything else is the emphasis on art & culture.  It's everywhere!  In the architecture, the food, the music, the people(fashion) and of course the art galleries, of which we took in as much as we could.
The Venice Biennial is on and so we saw some of Britain's contribution, Damien Hirst's exhibit titled:  'Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable'...a massive effort of inventiveness, both freakish and beautiful. 
The Gallerie dell' Accademia transported us to Byzantine & medieval Venice through the renaissance and baroque periods.  Most paintings from these era's are huge canvas's or panel's or even mosaic's.  Commissioned by the wealthy or by churches to adorn palaces & places of worship, they are huge in scale.  Some are allegorical, others depict scenes from important occasions;  most tell us how life was lived in Venice during these times. (made me glad I live in this century though) If I had to choose a favorite Italian painter from the academy gallery, it would be Bellini, so much emotion in his work.

Joaquin Sorolla - Mending the Sail

Felice Casorati -The Young Maidens

We went to the modernist art gallery Ca Pesaro, to see works by Klimpt, Sorolla, Rodin, among others, and found joy in discovering some modernist Italian artist's whom we had not even known about before: Casorati & Bosioni to name a few. 

 In the same gallery, a whole floor features 82 portraits by David Hockney of the artist's friends, family and aquaintances; done in 3 day sittings, painted in garish acrylic, all sitting in the same chair with the same background.  
Here's a piccy of me sitting in the chair ...a mock-up of the setting for the benefit of museum visitors taking photos. ha ha.

I hope to do a body of work inspired by my time in Venice. As of yet, ideas are only percolating, we'll see where it goes.