Browsing Category : Art Galleries

Faces of Sundborn: Carl Larsson Portraits in the Parish Hall


The Carl Larsson Portrait Collection, Carl Larssons porträttsamling, Sundborn, Sweden The portraits are of local citizens who were involved in keeping village life ticking over.  Larsson painted these ‘fine villagers’ for the parish of Sundborn, and donated the portraits to the village in 1916, with the condition that they remained there and were not moved.  This has clearly been a struggle,…

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Aix-en-Provence’s Granet XXe: 20th Century Boys


Granet XXe Collection Jean Planque, Aix-en-Provence, France It’s an interesting juxtaposition for the modern art of Aix-en-Provence to be housed in a pretty little chapel built in 1654.  It’s been adapted to house the impressive collection of Jean Planque, which is 20th century heavy, and made up of works which he sometimes got straight from the artists, which is pretty…

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Solid Granet: Old Masters in Aix-en-Provence


Granet Museum, Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France It’s not surprising that the smart, prosperous town of Aix-en-Provence has a major art gallery – especially considering the fact that two major artists were born here. Before the start of the French Revolution, the town hall housed a collection of historical and archaeological objects and in 1821, a cabinet of curiosities belonging to…

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Modest Saints in Sardinian Art: the National Gallery in Cagliari


National Gallery of Art of Cagliari, Pinacoteca Nazionale Di Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy Over the years I have changed my attitude towards art quite drastically.  When I was a teenager, I loved the Old Masters, the Renaissance, and the Italian world generally.  Then I realised that I preferred the pre-Renaissance period.  That I didn’t really like Italian paintings.  That actually I…

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Appreciating Art in Copenhagen’s National Gallery Part One: The Royal Collection


National Gallery of Denmark, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark Like practically everywhere else in Copenhagen, the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK), which I was expecting to be not that interesting, was absolutely fantastic.  The Danes are masters of doing everything wonderfully.  The museum itself is attractive, the art is great, the lighting, the level of information given – everything was…

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National Artistic Treasures in Edinburgh


The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Every great capital city needs a great art gallery and so it makes sense that Edinburgh, which is a great city, has a great art gallery.  There is a formidable mix of Scottish and international paintings and sculptures, in a nicely ‘old-fashioned’ setting, and the quality and range of what’s on display can probably…

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