MY ESCAPE FROM “THERE IS NO ESCAPE“ – PART TWO

On June 7 my husband, two friends visiting from the States, and I went to the Gemäldegalerie to see David Hockney Landscapes in Dialog.  The exhibition was intimate, hung in one large room and a smaller anteroom, and beautifully curated.  On display in the large room were 18-20 landscapes from various periods and artists; just off this room were four large-scale paintings by Hockney of three trees, each painting depicted from the same point of view in each of the four seasons.  The Hockneys were on loan from the Würth Collection; the other landscapes were assembled from several national museums in Berlin.

From the Gemäldegalerie website:

David Hockney is considered one of the most influential artists of our time. In his large-format seasonal series Three Trees near Thixendale (2007/2008) from the Würth Collection, Hockney observes the atmospheric seasonal changes of nature in Britain, where he grew up. This exhibition will present Hockney’s work alongside selected depictions of landscapes from the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and reveal the painter’s engagement with the art of previous centuries. The various pieces will invite the viewer to consider the parallels between Hockney’s work and the work of those who inspired him.

This series of landscape paintings is typical of Hockney’s engagement with the natural environment of Great Britain. Hockney believed that photography could not fully capture the beauty of his childhood home of Yorkshire. He declared war on the camera, but at the same time used it as a technical tool to implement his ideas on a large scale. His recent landscape paintings fuse traditional and digital techniques. They reveal his engagement with the art of previous centuries, as well as his own decades-long observation and depiction of the North American landscape.

In addition to paintings by old masters such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema and Richard Wilson, this special exhibition will also display pieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh and John Constable, whose landscapes inspired Hockney’s work. The juxtaposition reveals similarities and parallels with these older paintings, whose technique, composition and perspective, as well as their atmosphere and mood, Hockney studied intensively. 

Let’s take a walk around the landscape, starting in the early 16th c in Tuscany and ending up in the early 21st c. in the U.K.

Piero della Francesca

Jacob van Ruisdael

Salomon van Ruisdael

One painting and three works on paper by Rembrandt

Theodore Rousseau

John Constable

Vincent van Gogh

Three works on paper by Thomas Gainsborough

Another little beauty by Jacob van Ruisdael

And finally, David Hockney’s renderings of Three Trees Near Thixendale in Spring

Summer

Fall

And winter.

Here is a detail from the winter view.

I enjoyed the exhibition so much, I went back to see it again by myself today, the day it closed. I feel as though I've just walked through the countryside of Italy, Holland, France, and Great Britain--all without leaving home.

Keep it real!

Marilyn