Isolation is like convalescence – after months of it, you need to emerge slowly – and it’ll be a while before I feel strong enough to brave Tate Modern. I’d rather start at a smaller place like Dulwich Picture Gallery, with a visit to Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window leaning out thinking of all the fun she’s missing, just as we’ve all been doing for the past year. As ever, I’d admire the thoughtful cast the artist gives her expression by cleverly shading the irises of her eyes – a trick that can only be appreciated “in the flesh”.
That’s the sort of discovery that’s more often made in small galleries than big ones, where the sheer volume of works, and the crowds, can overwhelm. And it’s the sort of observation that’s virtually impossible to make online. The disadvantages to viewing art online are obvious – pixellation, backlighting, lack of texture. Even its main advantage – having the whole of art history at your fingertips – is a sort of drawback. An online search takes you straight to your object without passing anything else (that Rembrandt!) en route. It deprives you of the serendipitous pleasure of finding something you weren’t looking for.
18 March 2021, The Tablet
Real-life encounters
Visual Arts
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