One rainy day in London...

I admit, I didn't plan to see "Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites" exhibition in the National Gallery. 

I started out at the British Museum, where a lovely young lady whom I asked about their painting collection politely informed me that they only carried historical objects and artefacts and that I would be better off at the National Gallery or Tate Britain.

It was pouring outside, so National Gallery it was. 

                                                  

The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, 1434, oil on panel, 82x59,5cm, National Gallery, London

Jan Van Eyck being all realistic painters' guru and Pre-Raphaelites being a personal favorite brotherhood, my going through this exhibition could only be compared to a cat stumbling across a bowl of cream with all the time in the world to give it its full attention.

Not only was it rewarding to admire, once again, the mastering of the technique for which Old Masters and Pre-Raphaelites were known for. John Everett Millais's Mariana is, I am sure, both an inspiration and an impossible challenge for many of us. Or to experience the emotion those paintings inspire. John William Waterhouse's 1894 Lady of Shalott as well as Sidney Meteyard's portrait of Tennyson's tragic heroine have despair and romance oozing from every single brushstroke. 

But also was it great to feel the empowering these great artists still shower on us, stubborn painters of today who, day after day, continue painting realistically our very own world. 

Many a painter, critic or art lover question the legitimate foundation of painting things exactly as they are in our era. Why paint like a photo, they ask. Why on earth spend days, weeks, months even on a medium size canvas when every digital printing shop can produce a similar result for 9,95 in five seconds? 

Well, the answer is there, in this exhibition. Where every painting is rich with hidden treasures and clever symbols carefully staged by an outstanding artist.
We, realistic painters of today, from the modest anonymous to the celebrated ones, are grateful because thanks to those Masters, we can hold our head high and proclaim.

Yes, we paint trees as we see them, with trunks streaked with age and leaves that have veins. Yes, we paint portraits that look exactly (at least some of the good portrait painters do....) like their models. And when we paint still life, you can see the light reflected on the tiny pinpoint black grains that dot the red surface of the strawberries and the thinnest of lines the defines the rim of the wineglass.

But we do not, I repeat, do not, paint "like a photo". If you look closely, something in the play of light and shade will reflect the artist's mood. Some object, an innocent bystander in the composition, will symbolize the artist's beliefs, be they religious, political, philosophical or whatever chaos that goes on in his mind. Something in the trees will betray the artist's inner tempest. Something in the tones, hues and values - technical terms for the different elements that define what we call color - give away the artist's personality traits. And in the model's eyes, there always is something of the artist's soul. 

Those, and many other things, are only there for those who want to see them.

So, really, if you're in London, either living there or visiting, go to the National Gallery and enjoy your bowl of cream.

Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre Raphaelites, National Gallery, London until April 2nd 2018.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/reflections-van-eyck-and-the-pre-raphaelites