The Spring term begins shortly. The 2-week break came and went.
During the first half of week one, I did my fair share of museum hopping in 2 cities - Rome and London. There is a special Sargent show at the National Portrait Gallery in London which will end during the course of the next trimester. So best to go during the Spring Break. And the verdict? I'm glad I went! And I'm grateful that London is a stone's throw away from Florence - only 2 hours gets you there on Ryanair.
I was reminded during the last lecture of the Winter 2015 term of how Sargent was privileged enough to travel around the world to see original paintings. Back then, the internet was not available, so one would have to travel to see great works of art. And even now with the availability of coffee table books and online jpeg images, none of these come close to viewing the actual works. I wasn't going to let this slip by. It was my first Sargent show and I was absolutely thrilled.
Titled Portraits of Artists and Friends, the pieces here were more loose and experimental. Different from his formal commissioned works. This allowed me to see how far Sargent could push his style.
Here are the highlights of my trip:
I did part of the Roma Antica way. One of my favourite pieces is in
St. Ignatius Church which houses the frescoes of Andrea Pozzo.
Big Ben across from St James's Park.
The National Gallery, London, has a collection of over 2,300 paintings from id 13th century to 1900.
John Singer Sargent's Show inside the The National Portrait Gallery.
This piece, Sir Frank Swettenham I, isn't part of the special show which
explains why I am able to take this photo. This work is similar to the one inside
the Singapore National Museum.
In the evenings when the museums are closed, I'm glad the theatres aren't.
This is inside the elaborate Lyceum Theatre where the Lion King is about to start.
There was a Singapore-Malaysian restaurant in chinatown called
Rasa Sayang serving South East Asian food that I miss!
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