Monday, February 18, 2008


"Linnin' em Up, Newmarket", Oil on Canvas, Sir Alfred Munnings, Collection of Paul Mellon
Image from Virginia Museum of Fine Art website

Linda and I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art this weekend to see Paul Mellon's, Eugène Boudin and Sporting Art collection. We weren't that familiar with Boudin, but we really liked his work. The show was titled "The first impressionist." I can see that, he was painting in an expressionist style, but not to the extent that the later Impressionists would take it. We specifically went to see the sporting art, which unfortunately was a very small collection, separate from the permanent collection. The sporting art show featured; John R. Skeaping and Sir Alfred Munnings, we went to see the Munnings. Skeaping was a pleasant suprise, we liked his work a lot, we don't follow watercolorists as closely as oil painters. The three Munnings paintings were amazing, and we studied them for a very long time. His use of color is fantastic, especially in the shadows. We also spent time looking at Paul Mellon's permanent collection at the VMFA, what an amazing art collector.

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