Art Travelling

Here’s a life goal: To travel the world for a living. Who doesn’t want that, right? Learn about different cultures, appreciate new surroundings, try unbelievable food and discuss some art. We know the pandemic hasn’t gone easy on you…but if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain. Here are two alternatives for all of you art enthusiasts that can’t step one foot out the door but are craving some food for thought. Read more on Art Travelling.

Starting with The National Gallery renowned Flowers in a Terracotta Vase (by Jan Van Huysum) national tour: Jan van Huysum Visits will be travelling to six different locations throughout this summer. You’ll see this masterpiece in Cornwall, Norfolk, the East Midlands, South Yorkshire, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

The painting will appear in an unusual or unexpected non-museum location in each region, such as a food bank and community library, a covered market, a former department store, and community centres. 

Jan van Huysum Visits highlights how art and culture can help oneself feel better and reaches out to those who have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and the UK lockdown. 

What about the main attraction? Flowers in a Terracotta Vase displays over 30 species of flowers and plants in efflorescence, unfurling in exquisite detail. It is definitely no shy, hide-in-a-corner painting. It’s meant to dazzle and it does.

Flowers in a Terracotta Vase honours the endurance of the painted image and the lasting impact art can have on our hearts and minds. The National Gallery invites the public from across the country to engage with this magnificent image during the summer’s lingering, more glorious days.

National Gallery Director, Dr Gabriele Finaldi, says, ‘This astounding, large flower painting will make an unexpected appearance in unexpected venues across the country. I hope it will make people think about art and the beauty of nature, encourage their own creativity and inspire them to visit their own local museum or art collection.’

And because one is never enough, we have another art suggestion for you: Antibes (1888), a striking landscape painting by Claude Monet, serves as the centrepiece and inspiration for an impressive new exhibition set to open at the Ferens Art Gallery in May 2021.

The exhibition’s central motif is mindfulness, with Monet’s landscape serving as a focal point. Mindfulness encourages people to reflect and take a step back from the stresses and strains of everyday life to appreciate the present instant. The exhibition and accompanying events will promote reflection on the value of mental health, particularly among young people.

Monet in Mind, the first in a new series of temporary exhibitions at the Ferens Art Gallery, is inspired by the dramatic Mediterranean landscape. 

The painting will visit Hull for the first time, as part of an innovative collaboration with The Courtauld Gallery in London, which is currently closed for a major renovation and set to reopen later this year. The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports its Courtauld National Partners programme, which aims to share The Courtauld’s collection with audiences across the UK.

Monet’s Antibes will be accompanied by works from the permanent collection of the Gallery including works by Walter Richard Sickert, Philip Wilson Steer, Derwent Lees, Beatrice Bright, and Barbara Hepworth. 

“As many people discovered in 2020, art can play a valuable role in sustaining mental health; it can encourage, engage and reduce stress. The accompanying events programme is open to everyone, with several online for those unable to visit the gallery in-person” says Stephanie Edwards, Exhibition Assistant at the Ferens Art Gallery.

For more information on the events visit Jay Van Huysum Visits and Monet in Mind.

If you enjoyed Art Travelling, then why not read The Sound of Wool.