The Bowes Museum Blog

In May the Marketing team, Alison White, Media and PR Officer, Leo Rotaru, Marketing Assistant and myself, took a day out to spend in London, hot footing it between FOUR different Museums and FIVE exhibitions. First up was the Tate Modern and Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory, this exhibition was over 13 rooms and gave an insight into Bonnard’s personal life. The two paintings that affected me most in this exhibition were A Village in Ruins near Ham shown alongside Summer which was worked on immediately after he had visited the war zone. I could just imagine the longing for peace he must have felt after witnessing the destruction of war.

Next we took the boat over to Tate Britain and the Van Gogh and Britain exhibition, on our way taking in the new clock face of Big Ben (very blue, gold and shiny) and a fantastic view of the Houses of Parliament. This was the exhibition that really excited me – it was my time to see those ‘actual’ iconic pieces of art Sunflowers and Starry Night, right, and how stunning are they? We lost count of the amount work by Van Gogh in this exhibition, gallery after gallery was lined with everything from sketches to paintings, landscapes, portraits and still life. This artist was a genius, in everything he put his hand to he created an absolute masterpiece. It is just such a shame he died at such a young age and in the tortured way he felt towards the end.

Starry night over the Rhone by Van Gogh

After a quick tube trip we arrived at the V&A and met up with the Exhibitions Manager who took us into Dior… wow just wow! This exhibition, no actually show is a better word, is ab-sol-ute-ly stunning; every gallery has a different theme. Not sure we can pick our favourite, but it was beautifully put together. The Pièce de Résistance in the final gallery has lots of moving digital images reflecting around the room – shimmering gold, stars, the milky way and stunning art work – it was just the perfect finish.

A speedy look around Mary Quant, a fun, colourful and popular show  completed our visit to this part of London.
Back on the Tube to the Royal Academy for our final exhibition The Renaissance Nude saw us get up close and personal to Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci.
Our feet might be still hurting but boy was it worth it! Everyone has heard of these well-known artists at some point in their lives, and dreams of dressing in Dior but WE actually got to stand millimetres away from them and, believe me, they more than live up to the hype!

Article by: Rachael Fletcher, Marketing Manager, extracted from Bowes Arts the magazine of The Friends of The Bowes Museum, Summer 2019/ No 75

For more information, or to become a Friend of The Bowes Museum and receive a free copy of Bowes Arts, please follow the link: https://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Friends/Membership-Benefits