About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Monet to Dali at the Vancouver Art Gallery

From the Vancouver Art Gallery's website:
Monet to Dalí represents the most comprehensive showing of European painting and sculpture in Vancouver in more than half a century. Drawn from the superb collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition consists of more than 80 paintings, drawings and sculpture that demonstrate key examples from the European modernist movement. Organized into four groupings, this exhibition covers a century of art making from 1864 to 1964 and showcases important work by the major Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, early modern sculptors and avant-garde artists interested in Dadaism, Cubism and Surrealism. Most notably, the exhibition includes key works by Manet, Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Rodin, Picasso, Dalí and other renowned artists. Together, the works in this stellar collection illuminate the breadth of creativity in one of the most extraordinary epochs in the history of Western art.
I am so excited that this display will be here for us to see. It is at the gallery from June 11 to Sept 16 and is being promoted as the most significant showing of European art EVER in Vancouver. The last time I saw anything remotely close to this was when I was in San Francisco and visited the Legion of Honor. There I viewed some Rubens, Rembrandt, Watteau, Gainsborough, Monet, Bouguereau, Matisse, and Picasso. I just cannot find the words to express my feelings then. Monet is one of my favourite artists and as such, I always taught a unit on him and the impressionist style of painting to my 4th grade classes. The kids loved seeing photos of me on the bridge over the lily pond at Giverny. (yes the one pictured above!) I will be attending this display soon. Who wants to join me?

11 comments:

Jo said...

Well, just one guess who wants to join you? Ha!! Omigosh, this looks absolutely wonderful.

Guess who...?

PROUD AMERICA/LIVING LIFE said...

Hi I am fan of Josie's blog and saw (a comment) you took an interest in exploring the world. My hubby and I go for two or three week cruises to different places to see all different things. I love art. I love the one you put up. It is amazing to me the talent one human can have to create such beauty in this world. I would love to see more.
lisa

Marie said...

that is indeed a great painting!!! i wonder how much the original of that would cost these days????

Sienna said...

Leslie I'm in!!

This sounds fantastic, an absolute ripper of a show...I haven't been able to visit much lately, yahoo and google have been ill or something and keep dropping out, sometimes I can access the front bit of people's blogs and no more!

Kinda like tapping through glass and watching a fun party but can't get in...this art show is amazing

Your grandson is beautiful! Heart meltingly beautiful, look at his mop of curls

Pam

Leslie: said...

Josie - yes, we're definitely going. We'll have to decide when.

Dr. Carley - thanks for dropping in. I tried to access your blog but couldn't. When I was at Giverny, I bought 2 copies of Monet's works and had them professionally framed when I came home. They're hanging in my hall today. I absolutely adore them!

Ingrid - yes I also wonder what the value of the originals would be.

Pam - Josie and I can hardly wait to see the show. And yes my grandson is a darling - he's very good and polite, too. I'm proud of my daughter and SIL for how they are raising him with love and consistency.

someone else said...

Oh I would love to see this exhibition. Lucky you!

Leslie: said...

Well, before the fabulous art exhibit, I'm going to hit the village market on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

I have always liked Dali--but I get Monet and Manet so confused.

Never mind political correctness.
One of those SOB's was a Pointillist! :)

Ivan

Leslie: said...

Manet was one of the first artists to turn away from painting the "past" and focused more on the day to day life of Parisians. His style intrigued Renoir and Monet who then went on to become famous in their own right. Pointillism came later (Georges Seurat is the most famous I can think of right now with his now famous painting "Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte"). I did a unit on impressionism for my grade 4s and then followed up with pointillism - they loved making pictures just with dots and were very creative with their work.

Janice Thomson said...

I love the impressionists and post-impressionist work too. This would be an awesome show to see.

Leslie: said...

I can hardly wait. There was a huge article about the whole thing in the paper today and it's apparently expected to attract about 200,000 locals and tourist over the 3 months it's here.