Melbourne, last weekend (28/08/2010)

we went to the NGV on the weekend to see the Städel Museum, European Masters exhibition - C19th-C20th works by Corot, Degas, Nolde, Beckmann, Kirchner amongst of course many others














the names of artists in the exhibition, strung up outside the gallery, i love the display - it looks like a cross between a party and car-yard flags
my favourite work at the exhibition was, i think, this painting by kirchner

although there was another wonderful seascape by max beckmann

my terrible "secret snapshot" of sea and quay.
[i was standing next to a man who said he liked the sea but thought the quay was "ugly". i blinked a bit. i should have told him that the nazis would agree...

much of the early C20th works were part of the nazi degenerate art exhibition. there was a good article in the age, art and atrocity
which included a lovely comment, about "a remarkable, and remarkably humble, work by Franz Marc, a surreal, brilliantly coloured portrait of his dog, Russi, sleeping in the snow. That this painting, with its simple subject matter, is the Staedel's most admired work, as judged by a 2008 survey, is deeply satisfying" as it had been denounced as "degenerate" by the nazis.
it's a lovely sensual odalisque of a dog