The New Murrey and Blue blog

I know that the twenty priceless works of art shown in this article https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/national-gallery-london-what-arworks-to-see-1234722763/ about the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery are wonders to behold, but I look at them from the viewpoint of whether or not I’d want them on my wall. The answer is no. Well, except for two, the main one being the magnificent Wilton Diptych, which while very beautiful is of interest to me for its connection to Richard II. Richards II and III are the monarchs in whom I am particularly engrossed. The item belonging to Richard III that I really covet is his Book of Hours. Oh, yes, please! Give me that and the Wilton Diptych and I’d be the original sandboy.

Eighteen of the other nineteen works in the list just do nothing for me. Not even Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, because it reminds me of a grammar school corridor along which I had to walk every time I went to a maths lesson. I hated maths, and maths hated me. Every time I see that painting, I’m back in that odious corridor, with that awful sinking feeling that maths always induced in my long-suffering self. If dyslexia concerns words, then perhaps it has a sister affliction which is completely blind to numbers! I freeze completely and have never advanced beyond basic arithmetic.

Canaletto, on the other hand, pleases me because I passed it in another corridor on my way to geography, which I loved. So perhaps I’d tuck the Canaletto under my arm as I made off with the Wilton Diptych.

Does that narrow selection (and the reasons given) make me a dunce? A numbskull? Will art experts now be looking down upon me, aghast? I neither know (nor care) but it does make me honest. I can see the remaining eighteen paintings’ brilliance, but I wouldn’t want to have one around me all the time. If one came into my possession I’d sell it. Unless it happened to be the Wilton Diptych, which would never be wrested from my possessive paws! And the Canaletto, of course.

Oh well, I’ll tiptoe away now and close the door quietly on my way out. If you want to stay in with the art in-crowd, never admit to knowing a Muggle like me…. 🙄