A Day at Yale University Art Gallery - 4.5.07

Yale University Art Gallery

On April 5, 2007, I went to the Art Gallery. I took my daughter for her 17th birthday, we really enjoyed it, and it was free. When she was younger she went to the Peabody Museum, but we thought the Art Gallery was more interesting. It’s a beautiful museum with numerous paintings and sculptures. While I was there I noticed the fourth floor was under construction and wasn’t able to go there.

I just want to give a brief history on the Art Gallery. It was established in 1832, and is the nation’s oldest college art museum. Yale students, faculty, and the community use the gallery as an important teaching resource. The Gallery offers free exhibitions, lectures, tours, symposia, and other public programs.

The Gallery’s main facility, designed by Louis Kahn, and was established in 1954. The building was under renovation, and reopened on Sunday, December 10, 2006. During the renovation it restored the beauty of Kahn’s original vision. All (three) of the Gallery’s are being renovated.

While I was there, I picked out a total of three pictures that captured my attention. I was drawn to Early European art, because of its colors. The artists’ names are: Peter Paul Rubens, Edwin Austin Abbey, and Benjamin West.

Peter Rubens was born, June 28, 1577, and best remembered as the most popular European painter. He was also known for his Baroque style. The style had emphasis on movement, color, and sensuality. This painting caught my attention, because it remined me of Noah, angels descending from Heaven. I first interpretated as Sodom and Gamorah, and God washed away the whole city because of all the sin and the lady on the side in the red was trying to save her husband. Red symbolizes love, and she had significant love for him As I looked closer, there was a fish in the left hand corner, and I thought about Jonah in the belly of the whale. There are certain pictures within this picture that are depicted about religion. The true meaning of the painting (Hero and Leander) is a Greek story about a forbidden love. The Leander swam to his love during midnight, while she held a lantern. Unfortunately, on a fatal night, a storm came and he was perished. The lady in red wants to jump in and join him in death, so they can be together for ever. The painting was Oil on canvas, 37 3/4 x 50 3/8 in. (95.9 x 128 cm) and was a Gift of Susan Morse Hilles.

Edwin Austin Abbey was an American artist and painter. He is best known for for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects. He was born in Philadelphia, PA. In 1902 he was chosen to paint the coronation of King Edward VII. This painting now resides at the Buckingham Palace.

The painting of Edwin Austin Abbey reminded me of royalty and death, because she had a crown on her head, she has jewels, there is fur around her neck, and her gown is draped with a black veil.. Everyone else has black attire on also, except for the man next to her, and the man in the right hand corner. The man along side her, who is humpbacked and not goodlooking seems to be bothering her, he has a ring in his hand and she seems like she is pushing him away. Also, his sword has blood on it, which means he killed someone or something. She doesn’t want any parts of him. She looks very angry and disturbed, and they’re children holding her train. The true meaning of the painting (Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne) was a scence from Shakespeare’s Richard III. Richard (humpbacked) is proposing to Lady Anne, who is Henry VI’s widowed daughter-in-law. She is walking to the late king's funeral procession. The two children are Richard's two young nephews. Lady Anne puts curses on Richard for having brutally stabbed to death both her father-in-law and her husband, Edward, Prince of Wales. Richard praises her actions, and he tells her that he killed them in order to get near her, and offers to let her kill him, or to kill himself with the unsheathed sword that he holds up. Instead of killing himself, he offers her a wedding ring. She will later succumb to his flattery and declarations of remorse, and accept his proposal. In doing so, she will bring on intrigues that ultimately result in her death. The painting, Oil on canvas, 52 5/8 x 104 3/8 in. (133.7 x 265.1 cm).

My last picture, was a painting by an American painter, Benjamin West (1738–1820). He was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania. From the 1780s West also began to experiment with an almost Romantic style, incorporating dramatic lighting and fantasy and literary subjects. My symnoposis of this painting is about death, and the lady carrying the urn has her husband’s ashes. Her children are by her side, and the little boy has a gold necklace, which shows some type of connection to the gold urn. I think the person died in battle at sea, and was a highly distinguished dignitary. People come from all around to see, and there is a child on someone’s shoulders to get a closer look. On the left side of the picture, it is dark, which represents death, but on the right side, there are light colors. The true meaning of the painting (Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus) is about a widow carrying her assassinated husband, Germanicus. Her two young children accompany her. Agrippina has placed herself and her children in certain danger by returning to confront the Emperor Tiberius, who was widely believed to have instigated Germanicus’s murder. Germanicus’s was very popular, as well as his wife. The processsion draws large crowds of sympathizers to greet her when she arrives at Brundisium. The painting, Oil on canvas, 64 1/2 x 94 1/2 in. (163.8 x 240 cm), and was a gift of Louis M. Rabinowitz.

This was an enjoyable time for us, and we will be going to the British Art Center next. I know we have hectic schedules, but if you have some time to spend with your loved ones, take them to a musuem, it is educational and enlightening. This place was excellent starting point, and it was great to see beautiful pictures, and learn more about art.

Below are picutures of the artists. Also, I added some other pictures.

Peter Paul Rubens Benjamin West Edwin Austin Abbey