The Art of Germany

For the poet Friedrich Schiller, Germany wasn’t a country. it was a question mark.

Germany ?  He asked.

Where is it ? where ?  I don’t know where to find it.

The truth is for most of its history, Germany was not a unified state but an assemblage of disparate parts. Not a nation, but so much as a process.

For centuries Germany was a construct of the mind. The creation of writers, painters, visionaries. That’s why art has always been at its core.

Reflecting its diverse origins, German culture is itself a blend of passion and precision. Exact craftsmanship and the impulsive gesture.  A love of nature and a love of the machine. A need for escape and a desire for control and, I believe, one of the most revealing ways to explore the complexities of the German character is through the story of German art.

With these words, Andrew Graham-Dixon, strolling around the iconic BMW car plant outside Munich, introduced his new 3 part series on the Art of Germany.

What a treat.  Loved every minute of it.

Nighthawks

I’ve always liked Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

He painted it in 1942 and claimed that it was inspired by “a restaurant on New York’s Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet“.

The nighthawks sit alone, lost in their individual thoughts, as if in a glass bowl. The viewer is outside in the shadows, looking in wondering who they are.

It reminds me of that classic 1940s style – trilby hats, zoot suits and two-tone shoes.

I found a poster of it a while ago and it’s on the wall above my bed !

Transforming the sun…

Renoir’s Le Pont Neuf, 1872

Renoir used the Impressionist technique to great effect and this street scene is brought alive by colour, light and shade.

Renoir even manages to make the sunshine look warm and the shade seems cool…. brilliant !

Pablo Picasso once said, “there are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Renoir definitely falls into this category !