h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At nammettime today I went to Southampton City Art Galley: http://www.southamptoncityartgallery.com/ – I enjoy visiting every 3 months or so, which times nicely with when they changed their exhibits. Today the exhibitions included ones on William Stott (including 'The Ferryman', recently bought for the nation for £1.5 million http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/05/tate-britain-acquires-british-impressionist-painting-william-stott-oldham-ferryman) and British Impressionism and Naturalism, Dazzle – the Art of Disruption, 250 Years of the Royal Academy - and a 'Please do touch' trail for toddlers). I must admit I'm not an or someone who knows much about art, and being too critical for my own good I do tend to divide what I see on display into 'Real Art' and 'New-fangled rubbish' (I like art to at the very least look as if the has made an effort).

My reviews of the exhibitions would be:
British Impressionism and Naturalism
Dazzle – I had really hoped that this would be good but instead of showing how Dazzle was used during the Great War the exhibition consisted of modern art with black and white stripes.
250 Years of the Royal Academy
Christopher Le Brun

If you are in the Southampton area then I implore you to have a look around. The work I am impressed with really is worth seeing, with work by Turner, Lowry, Morland, Rodin to name but a few. And if you like modern rubbish then there's lots of squiggles in various colours for you to look at too. And they have a small but perfectly formed shop too – I was tempted to buy a full-colour book listing every oil painting on public display on the Isle of Wight and in Hampshire. It had a section on the oil paintings owned by Solent University including familiar ones I see every day.

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Excellent

Yes, I certainly enjoyed my visit there a few years ago as there was a good variety of art on display, for a variety of different tastes

That's a shame that the Dazzle exhibition wasn't what it sounded like - my first thought was that it would be about Dazzle Ships... Glad you enjoyed the Impressionism and Naturalism and Royal Academy sections, though

My son lives in Southampton, so I'll tell him about this. Thanks for the tip.

I'd hoped to see some dazzle ships too – they did have one painting of a dazzle ship which they probably borrowed from the Sea City (Titanic) Museum next door.

I'd definitely recommend having a look around if you or anyone else you know is in the area. While I don't necessarily appreciate or understand everything, I've never been there without seeing something I like. And they always have a good variety, so someone who has completely different tastes to me is bound to find something that interests them too.

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