Having a painter for a father, I've been exposed to the art world at a very young age. I remember, as a young boy, I would wake up in the middle of the night and see my Dad in one of the rooms of the house. A watercolor brush in his one hand, different colors of paint on a palette, classical music in the background.
He had a number of books on the world's greatest artists lying around the house, and I remember I would marvel at the photographs of paintings by people I had no idea were legendary.
This, I guess, is one of the reasons why I have a natural affinity towards the art world. In uni, one of my favorite classes was Humanities II (Art and Society). I remember one of our exams was to talk about an artwork. What were the techniques used by the artist? What does the lighting mean? What were the objects in the painting? I talked about one of the ballerina paintings of Edgar Degas, and I remember getting 1.25 for that exam.
One of my dreams, of course, was to see these paintings up close. I envy my friends like Bernice, They and recently, Grace, who have had an opportunity to see the works of Masters during their travels abroad.
Last Saturday, that dream became a reality when I visited the Dreams & Reality exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore.
This is one of the things I love about Singapore. There is an effort to promote both local and international arts and culture among the locals. Since I moved here, I have had the opportunity to see so many great works.
The appropriately named exhibit featured over 140 Salon, Realists, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists paintings, photographs and drawings from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century from the collection of the world renowned Musée d'Orsay.
After handing over my ticket to the . The first painting to really wow, I guess, any visitor to the exhibit is Alexandre Cabanel's The Birth of Venus. It's the first huge painting you will see as you walk towards the hall leading to the other paintings.
I spent a good few minutes just marveling at the painting. I rented an audio guide, which helped me appreciate the painting even more.
The works of the "superstars" were uhm purposely placed towards the last section of the exhibit. Save the best for last I suppose.
Obviously, that's where I stayed the longest.
For many, including me, I'm sure the highlight of the exhibit was Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.
When I saw it, I just stood there for several minutes in awe. I dunno if it's because I knew it was a van Gogh, or maybe because there was just really something about the painting that mesmerizes any person looking at it.
One surprise for me, which I liked, was the presence of works of female Impressionists. Not to be a sexist, I didn't have a clue that there were female Impressionists at that time. I was truly pleased when I saw that several of the outstanding pieces on display were by female artists like Berthe Morisot, Marie Braquemond and Eva Gonzalès.
The exhibit was definitely star-studded, so to speak. Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas, Pisarro, Renoir.
I allotted about two hours to see the exhibit, but I realized that it wasn't enough. I should probably allot close to half a day to have enough time admiring select pieces. I definitely want to see the van Gogh again, that's for sure!
The exhibit would be until Feb 2012. It would be awesome if my Dad were here, I'm sure he would really enjoy it.
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