Went to a fascinating lecture at the Barber Institute yesterday about Magritte's The Flavour of Tears (La Saveur des Larmes) - details here. I've know this picture for a long time but I didn't know that there is an almost identical copy in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Brussels. Dr Silvano Levy suggested that Magritte intended the 2 copies to be a single work.



I also discovered that Magritte was an expert forger, both of paintings and bank notes. He, rather ironically, appeared on a Belgian bank note.

Hmmmm,

Marks out of two?

Tommo

I love this drypoint of Australian artist Marco Luccio:


And this etching, of Piranesi:

Good Herrings! Does it really look like that? Where are all the daleks?

Thank you, George.  I didn't know Hammershoi, but these pictures are beautiful.  It reminds me of some Spilliaert paintings, about whom I posted earlier in this thread.  I can't find a decent example on the internet, but they're usually also just certain corners of his room.  He was sensible too for the abstract beauty of a room, a window, a door, a bowl...  This is the only one I could find that comes remotely close:


Self-portrait

On a trip to Paris some weeks ago, I discovered Camille Pissarro at le Musée d'Orsay.  I realise now he's quite famous, but I'd never heard of him before.  Anyway, I was particularly attracted to this painting:


Entrée du village de Voisins

I like rural landscapes.  I like to imagine the tranquility, the low pace of life, the closeness to nature (the smell of the country, the wide fields all around you, some birds twittering, a dog barking far off...) I do not have the most developed taste in painting, I know, but there you are.  I feel with Pissarro, there's always just something special that safeguards it from becoming banal or kitschy .

As you keep looking at the painting, you imagine yourself walking into the village.  It's a cold winter morning.  You feel the sunshine on your face, which gives you a brief and fragile sense of warmth on this chilly day.*  The trees are bald, black and brown, hibernating.  The ground is hard.  You keep an eye on the silent, faceless houses.

You have a long walk behind you.  You have observed nature and human life around you, quietly.  Now there's some activity on the road.  A young girl is picking flowers by a three; two women are entering the village before you, walking side by side, talking silently; a tradesman is leaving by coach - he'll gruntle a short 'njour in your direction when he passes you.

You've come to this village, maybe to visit someone, someone special, or maybe you just live there and you've come back.  The day is young and full of possibilities, you feel strong.  You feel the need to capture this moment.  You go home and paint.

(*That's what impresses me the most with the impressionists (I know, I know... ): how they can convey such a strong sense of weather: misty mornings, brilliant summer days, undefined grey autumn days, warm, rainy days,...)

I see what you mean!  We were surprised to see...


La rue Montorgueil (Monet)

...as the street just next to our little flat, where we did our daily shopping... 

That makes me even more annoyed that I never get anywhere near London these days, I love Hammershoi.  I don't think reproductions of his work ever really do them justice, the lighting is far more striking when you see them "in person" as it were.  I'd second your recommendation to those within tubing distance.

Edit Note: oops, just noticed that your post was made in July while I was away - sorry all!