If you could do with some joy, we very much recommend visiting Expressionists Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider, an exhibition currently on at Tate Modern in London.
I went last month and still vividly remember the Kandinsky painting I spent most time with. I needed a bit of uplifting after a difficult week around my husband’s illness. I had decided beforehand I would look more closely at any artworks that somehow drew me, touched my heart or lifted me up.
This Kandinsky is one of the first paintings you meet when you enter the exhibition. Before all else, I felt attraction, then admiration, before landing in some peace. The two figures on horseback somehow represented myself and my husband in close connection. There was a sense of comforting, protecting and consoling. So I lingered with this painting.
I took time to carefully look at the frame of the painting. The ornamental rosettes, the subtly sculpted edges, the patterns on the different layers of frame. Then my eyes roamed around the canvas and settled on the buildings on the far side of the river. The different dots of colour there. Next, I paid attention to the sky, the shape of the clouds, and the palette of colours. Back to the foreground, I deeply appreciated the gentle birches and their foliage. One of the trees is bent, as if guarding or shielding the pair on horseback.
I slowly followed the outline of the horse and looked at the cloth draped over its back. I observed the patterns on the girl’s skirt, and took in the couple’s embrace. I then enjoyed the dottedness of this painting. And the flow of the river.
I lingered a bit longer and studied the label. Finally I moved on to explore the other rooms of the exhibition in this amazing gallery on the Thames, flanked by birches.
