A cultural break in London
I have spent the last couple of days in cultural activities in London.
On Tuesday I visited the opening of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in the Mall Gallery.
Much of the work is mediocre but it’s a useful platform for aspiring young oil artists.
In the evening I saw a performance of Rigoletto at Covent Garden.
Though a popular opera by Verdi I found the themes of oppression of daughter Gilda by Rigoletto and the mocking of his deformed state unappealing.
Though Sir Simon Keenlyside was an excellent Rigoletto I found Gilda less melodious.
At £220 for a stalls ticket the opera is expensive and in this case unenjoyable
Finally, on Wednesday, I visited Impressionists on Paper.
I was expecting colourless littler sketches but far from it.
These were big paintings by big artists like Dégas, Cezanne, van Gogh, Redon and Toulouse-Lautrec.
One picture by Lautrec featured a lesbian couple in bed.
I reflected that were this a film the “Me too” movement would be up in arms.
Yet the in the rooms of the Royal Academy it was just one more work to be appreciated.