Crimson campy charred

It seems I am no fan of Impressionism - of vague visions, dull subjects or abstract ideas.

The Lifestyle section of The Straits Times today highlights the "Best & Worst of 2011". Dreams & Reality (Oct 2011–Feb 2012 at the National Museum) made the best list under Visual Arts. It is a showcase of mainly 19th-century (and hence mainly Impressionist) European art loaned from the Musée d'Orsay, the 10th most visited art museum in the world. Yvonne, Jinglin, Zhi Wen and I went to see it two Sundays ago.

The exhibition started off promisingly for me, but by the end I realized that out of the four divisions of the galleries - Allegory & History, Man and Contemporary Life, Man and Nature, Solitude
 - my three favourite pieces all occurred in the first. This was the historical section, with works that looked backwards more than forwards, and so was probably the least representative of (or the least likely to be branded as) the 19th century.

Heracles Killing the Birds on the Stymphalian Lake, Edgard Maxence, c1893. Bright crimson bow and crazy hair (Edit: Oops I just found out that's a lion skin). The Knight of the Flowers, Georges Rochegrosse, c1894. Kinda campy.

The Enigma, Gustave Doré, 1871. The sky glowed brightly but its glare couldn't touch the charred, pitch-black earth.

I think I love clean composition, clear focus and a striking image. We're going to look at stamps today. o_O