I had a wonderful free trip to the VAG when I was in Vancouver. I was told by the AGA (Art Gallery of Alberta) I could use my membership to get into the VAG for free. After much confusion and talking to 3 different people at the VAG they finally buzzed me through free (saved of $20 plus tax).
I wandered the halls of the of the museum until closing time seeing some photography work that I did not like to much along with Emily Carr paintings and a great show of paintings and sculpture by Henri Matisse. I also saw work by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin. My favourite work was a reclining nude by Matisse shown below.
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| Large Reclining Nude, Henri Matisse 1935 |
They had a quote from Matisse about the creation process, he said something to the effect of "Sometimes you need to put the work back on the anvil again and again until you get it right" What was cool about the reclining nude display at the gallery is you got to see previous layouts of the work in photographs, Matisse went through 22 versions of this painting until he got it just right, overpainting older version of the nude each time. Even the greats need to think and rethink and work their tales off to get it right. It fits into my theory that working harder than the next guy will get your artistry to another level.
I also saw this wonderful blue period painting (my first time seeing a real blue period painting) by Picasso. The painting was much bluer and vibrant in real life, it just glowed! and called you to it from across the gallery.
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| Woman With Bangs, Pablo Picasso 1902 |
And this Gauguin portrait.
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| Woman With A Mango, Paul Gauguin 1892 |
