We decided to beat the crowds this Sunday morning so travelled in reasonably early to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, in Wellington. All the other culture lovers obviously had the same idea. “90 minutes waiting in the queue”, we were told by the helpful attendants. Looking at amazement at the length of the queue up in the 4th floor we tagged on to the end. Patiently we all slowly shuffled along, round the corner then back again. Then, we were within view of the ticket sellers. Not there yet though, another dog leg in the queue to negotiate. By the time we bought our tickets, it had indeed taken 90 minutes!! We purchased our Senior tickets, and with the aid of an audio guide to relay extra information about what we were viewing, joined the crowds of art enthusiasts.
Claude Monet met up with fellow artists Renoir and Sisley and they developed their Impressionist style. They broke with tradition and instead worked at capturing the effects of light and atmosphere, painting outside instead of in the studio. Monet moved to a property in Giverny and developed the land, diverting streams to make a water garden.
There were 55 paintings exhibited and we took our time as we slowly gazed at each one. The audio guide related how the impressionist painters chose to focus on a “snapshot” of what they see, rather than the full view. As to be expected, our favourites were quite different. I just loved the Water Lily painting, and the haunting beautiful misty “Morning on the Seine”. Robin was entranced with the “Valley of the Petite Creuse” series, the same view painted at different times on the day giving different light effects.
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