Wise and wine

Or maybe that should be 'wise with wine'

In the past few months I've been attending the occasional lovely little art talks with a bunch of people from our condo (plus friends). Run by the very passionate and talented Claire Kwiatkowski each talk in the series 'Picture this' talks about an artist and a specific piece of art. A few months ago we went to one on Monet and his 'Impression, Sunrise'. It was such a interesting talk, a glimpse into the birth of Impressionism but also Monets' ideas and influences as well as the technological advancements (tubes of paint) that allowed for such a new style to be developed. 

This past Wednesday we went for this, Vincent Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. Once again Claire held fort and talked not of his perceived madness (the ear cutting etc) but instead of his expansive knowledge and verbose letters to his brother. He moved from place to place over his short life and his work influenced both by his surroundings/ other Masters but also (unwittingly) by his mental imbalance (epilepsy of a kind). She showed us his personality reflected in the steady march of his works from mastering techniques in other mediums before finally picking up a paintbrush and oils at the ripe old age of 30. It was an impressive talk and it made me come home and want to dig up my book of his works and my memories of the museum visit to see just his works. 

Yes that is a bowl of soup by the little hand out! A delicious bowl of carrot and orange soup. You see, the talks are held in various venues and are either coffee morning talks or dinner talks. This was in the same venue we went to last time, a little restaurant in the business district here in Singapore, called SPRMRKT. This is a lovely (if cosy) venue that shuts its doors to the public and lays out 2 long tables (about 25 people) and has a 2 or 3 course menu to choose from - a veg and non veg main option. Also the option of wine. So talk followed by long chatty dinner. On a weekday. Lovely! 

Can't wait for next years 'Picture This' series.