Last time I was in Melbourne - just passing through really - I stopped off at the National Gallery of Victoria to have a squiz at the European Masters exhibition. This was showcasing the collection of 19th and 20th century paintings from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Excellent.
Not sure why, but looking at paintings infects me with an urgency to write, so I almost always come away from exhibitions feeling enervated, inspired, raring to scribble the words down. Almost as if I've snorted something I shouldn't have and just can't slow the brain down.
Would have loved to see the Kandinsky paintings that the Städel own, but they weren't on show. However, there was enough to delight. Wouldn't have minded bringing home Courbet's Village Road in Winter (the colours are lost in this photo), or several others, but I think it might have been missed.
