Day 268: Desperate Romantics

Yesterday, as well as going to an amazing talk about the future of education, I was also lucky enough to sit in on a talk by Franny Moyle. It was more of a lecture than a talk, all about the Pre-Raphaelites, who turned from the traditions of painting in the late 1800s to create works like these:

(Proserpine by Rossetti and Orphelia by Millais)

Paintings like these were viewed with extreme opposition at the time, but now we've fallen in love with their charm. When I was studying Art at school, I looked at the Pre-Raphaelites. I loved their romantic scenes of (well dressed) beautiful women, each of them telling their own story. But it turns out I knew very little about those paintings and the people who created them. The lives of these painters, their wives and models were intertwined in every way. Basically, they're all about death, sex and politics!

As Franny Moyle showed us slide after slide of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, their meanings became clear and I realised how intricate these works were in combining details of society, their own lives and the skill of the craft. When you see old paintings on a big wall in a gallery, sandwiched between two (very similar) ones, you just don't get the depth that they really show. That's why it's so inspiring going to talks and presentations about creative things you love, or even things you don't love for that matter. There really is so much we don't know, but together, we all know quite a bit. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is learn from what/who you can and be inspired to get creative from their knowledge. I really want to get my paint brush out and get creative again...what could you do?

Check out Desperate Romantics by Franny Moyle. It's also bee turned into a BBC production.