On we go with the lists, and now we have fifteen favourite paintings of mine. They’re not all great works, but each has struck me in a particular way and lingered in the mind. Often they represent a particular time and place (London, Dublin, Canterbury, Manchester) that help make them specifically memorable for me. I’ve restricted it to one painting per artist, and they have to be paintings that I have actually seen. I have great affection for some works of art that I have never encountered in reality, but of course there is that special connection when standing face to face with the picture itself. You do not only see the work in its actual proportions, shades and tones (as opposed to the inevitable inaccuracies of a reproduction). You see it as the artist saw it; almost you could say that in seeing it you become as the artist. You understand what has been expressed, to the point where it becomes your expression.
As before, in no particular order, except the absolute favourite is at the top of this post.
Ivon Hitchens, ‘Warnford Water, Movement Left and Right’, 1959, Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives Elisabeth Vigée LeBrun, ‘Self Portrait in a Straw Hat’, c.1782, National Gallery, London William Scott, ‘Morning in Mykonos’, 1960-61, British Council collection Adolphe Monticelli, ‘Roses’, date?, York Museums Trust Sean Scully, ‘Wall of Light Sky’, 2000, Dublin City Gallery David Jones, ‘Flora in Calyx-Light’, 1950, Kettle’s Yard R.B. Martineau, ‘Study for a Woman of San Germano’, c.1864, Manchester City Galleries Jack Yeats, ‘Two Travellers’, 1942, Tate Annie Swynnerton, ‘The Sense of Sight’, 1895, Walker Art Gallery Ben Nicholson, ‘June 1937’, 1937, Tate Georges de la Tour, ‘St Sebastien Attended by St Irene’, c.1650, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Cy Twombly, ‘Three Studies from the Temeraire’, 2998-99, Art Gallery of New South Wales Peter Paul Rubens, ‘Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder’, 1620, Cortauld Kaff Gerrard, ‘In the Twilight, in the Evening’, date?, Canterbury Museums
