Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado
Yesterday I made my way to Brisbane Art Gallery to check out the Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado exhibition at Queensland Art Gallery (QAG)
"This exhibition features over 100 masterpieces from one of the most
revered collections of European painting in the world and tells the
story of the evolution of painting in Spain over three and a half
centuries. This ‘portrait of Spain’ shows the internal and external
factors that contributed to the development of modern Spanish identity,
through developments in painting on the Iberian Peninsula."
Señora de Delicado
Fecha:1840 h.
Características:109 x 86 cm.
This exhibition was fantastic! The workmanship of some of the works have to be seen to be believed, particularly some of the etchings on display, although many of them had themes related to sadness and death, the intricacy involved in each etching displays true talent from the artists. Some of the paintings are heavily influenced by god and bible readings as well as obvious paintings of royals in their prime. One thing I learned throughout the exhibitions though, that surprised me particularly was that during early 1900's the Spanish artists enjoyed capturing the unfortunate, the disabled and the overweight in extravagant paintings and put them in there courts to amuse the royal, and wealthy, something today would be hugely discriminative, so some of the paintings on display might offend some. Completely opposing today's values, hairy was deemed beautiful, and the more clothing one wore, the more attractive you were deemed. If you get the chance, it's really worth a look at before the exhibition leaves town, for both a feast for the eyes in extravagant bursts of colour and ever so intricate brush strokes and the intense history lesson one can gather from the artworks, capturing social heirachy's, laws, values and status each pieces time. I've been to most of the exhibtions at GOMA and Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and would consider this to be one of the best so far.
* The exhibition closes on the 4th of next month so get in quick!
QAG Opening Hours
10.00am — 5.00pm Monday to Friday
9.00am — 5.00pm Saturday and Sunday
9.00am — 5.00pm Public Holidays
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