Modern Art

Several years ago, I was ecstatic to be touring the Palace of Versailles. Despite its connotations of wealth and disparity, it happens to be one of my favourite places on the planet (so far, that is). I remember turning to walk into the Hall of Mirrors and seeing, to my complete dismay, giant anime-style statues filling the Hall. The bubblegum pink and cerulean mocked the gold and silver of the room and the faces of the oversized dolls sneered at the stunning statues around us. Moral of the story, I don’t get modern art.

Walking, willingly, into the Tate Modern on my day off was a strange move for me. However, it’s one of those things you do in London and it was on my ‘London List’ so . . . My thoughts on modern art haven’t changed one bit by my visit. I still think a pile of laundry is a pile of laundry and a red square painted onto a white canvas is the likely result of someone reminiscing back to his or her preschool days. However, I concede there is some really beautiful art hung on the walls of Tate Modern. (Key word: some.)

Some abstract paintings were really quite beautiful, ‘pleasing to the eye’ as my companion put it. The kind of thing I would probably use as my computer background, but eye catching all the same. A number of artists I hadn’t even heard of, but it was a lovely way to get out of the cold and spend some time with a like-minded friend. The most entertaining part, though, was watching the other people who do get the modern art thing. I remember one lady looking pensively at one piece, “Wet Paper Towels Stuck to Canvas No. 3*”. I chuckled to myself and kept walking. Twenty minutes later, as we were walking back through, the lady was still looking pensively at the canvas. I had to double check that she was a real person and not, in fact, part of the display. (Also, brilliant idea, sculpt realistic looking people to stare at your art so it looks like people are always interested in it - future modern artist, you’re welcome).

Anyway, all jokes aside (I have a few more of them if you’re interested…) it was a lovely museum. There were a few very cool pieces, a Picasso and a Dali, but I couldn’t get a photograph because of the hordes trying to get their photographs. I might even go back, because I saw a few Andy Warhol pieces in the gift shop. Andy, as most of us know, blew minds by painting a can of soup.

As a temporary Londoner, I’m glad I went and can now say I’ve gone. It was a lovely way to spend a few hours walking and chatting with a friend. To be honest, there is something to be said for someone doing something completely absurd and calling it art. I would never have the courage, or the self-importance, to do something like that. Definitely worth a quick go if you have time, and especially if you do actually enjoy modern art. Maybe you can come with me next time and explain this to me:

*Not the real name