Artistic inspiration

So in true London-on-the-cheap style, we've been hitting the galleries and museums around town. First stop, the Tate Modern - the national gallery of international modern art (ie. art since 1900). The gallery itself was created in 2000 and is housed in an old power station on the south side of the Thames. There's a few interesting collections and works by Dali, Picasso, Lichtenstein, Basquiat, Lipchitz, Georges Braque and Warhol (to name a few!), but to be honest, a lot of modern art is quite disappointing. Thanks to Steve and his borrowed membership card, we got into the Rothko exhibition for free. And thank god we did get in for free, because here's a sample of Rothko's work:

Yes, it's a red square, with some more red, and then a bit of some darker red. Maybe to a more informed or educated art critic, this has some meaning. But when there are whole rooms - 5 to be exact - all filled with paintings much the same as this - it's very hard not to proclaim loudly and clearly that these paintings are a complete load of shite.

Moving right along...

In complete contrast to the Rothko exhibition, the National Gallery was amazing. It's difficult to express in words just how brilliant some of these paintings are. The colours are so rich, the expressions so real, the emotion so distinct - it's almost a shame that photography was invented and that such art is no longer as prominent. There's all the famous paintings that you see everywhere in print form - the Monet's, Van Gogh's, Rembrandt's... and it's pretty amazing when you realise that you're actually right there, looking at the original artwork, still in pristine condition after being painted before the 1900's.