The National Gallery, London
20 August 08
Return from the woods. Giovanni Segantini 1890www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Beautiful paintings that ooze light...
The divisionists aren’t the best known of all the art movements, but that’s one of the reasons why, for its new show, ‘Radical Light’, the National Gallery has chosen to focus on this loose-knit bunch of 13 Milan-based painters. Between the late 1880s and 1910 they combined new optic and chromatic theories of light in their landscapes and allegorical symbolism in order to better represent man-made and natural light itself, while mixing in a few of Italy’s social and political injustices for good measure... did you get that?
...A pleasant enough show in the vault like galleries beneath the Sainsbury wing. We took advantage of the half price entry deal for Wednesday evenings... and left the show slightly disappointed but glad for not splashin' out on full-price tickets!... This Gallery is always rammed to the rafters, consistently crammed and perpetually teeming. Bad lighting that flared on the paintings, selfish parents allowing their kids to shriek and a room layout that makes you feel like a disorientated rabbit searching for a long lost carrot... a visit saved only by the wonderful works of art!
Go see if you dare- closes 7 September!!5 out of 10
