This is the second of Dido Powell’s Art Museum Tours in 2023, taking place on five Sundays between 5 February and 4 June. All tours take place on a Sunday 11am to 1pm. They cost £12 per tour or £55 if you book all five. See the full list here. Please message Wendy Earle (wendyearle@talktalk.net) to reserve your place.

INTRODUCTION

The elements, especially air and water, offer artists a route away from material subjects and three-dimensional reality towards capturing changing light and weather effects in a tangible form. John Berger said: ‘The sky has no surface and is intangible, the sky cannot be turned into a thing of a given quantity.’ The sea and the sky, especially in landscapes, post 1800, became a dominant theme for landscape painters. By observing shifting skies, swelling seas and the abstract glow of fire, artists could innovate techniques for capturing fleeting effects through exploring mark making and the physical characteristics of paint itself.

The sea and the sky were also subjects invested with ideas of the sublime, awe and terror, theatrical drama and a spiritual dimension without recourse to overt biblical subjects.

We will look at paintings from across the collection.